


What Dreams May Come

by NinjaSun00



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen Work, Prophetic Dreams, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2020-08-20 22:18:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 31,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20235283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSun00/pseuds/NinjaSun00
Summary: At first, Sasuke didn't think much of his dream. Sure, Itachi died... and for some reason he'd aged up a couple of his classmates. And the dream remained oddly clear in his head. Still, it was just a dream, right?That was until he saw a ninja with gravity-defying hair, and began to wonder if there really was a sharingan under that hitai-ate.And if there was, then what about the old man with the sharingan arm?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got to thinking, about how we generally give Naruto or Sakura foreknowledge. There are some fics that give Sasuke knowledge - either time travel (in which case it's generally a redemption arc) or something similar. Anyways, I got to thinking...
> 
> What if he had a glimpse of the future, and it made him start questioning his quest for vengeance?

The moon cast a silver glow, lining the rooftops and streets of Konoha in silver. A ninja village never truly sleeps, though certain parts of the village are… quieter… than others.

One such district was even quieter than most, house after house empty of the presence of life. Except one.

Moonlight shone through a window, illuminating a young boy with dark hair - Sasuke Uchiha, the sole survivor of the massacre that destroyed everything he ever cared about. He stirred in his sleep, jaw tensing. Mouth opening and closing although no sound escaped.

> _ He was exhausted, breathing heavily as he faced a dark-haired ninja. His brother, Itachi, was wreathed in red chakra, chakra that formed the shape of a giant skeleton. _
> 
> _ “You really have... gotten stronger Sasuke.” Itachi spoke haltingly, as though worn out by fighting. This time… I shall show you my final trump card. The Susano’o.” _
> 
> _ The red chakra skeleton began to grow and harden, forming the shape of a giant armoured samurai. _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ He collapsed to the ground, a mass of writhing white tendrils pouring from his shoulder. They expanded and grew, forming a giant eight-headed serpent. The monster advanced on Itachi, still encased in his Susano’o. _
> 
> _ ... _
> 
> _ The serpent was mostly decapitated, though it clearly wasn’t dead. Strange movement came from one of the heads, as a man with long, dark hair emerged, laughing. Itachi pierced the man with a long sword. _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ The remains of the eight headed snake were absorbed into Itachi’s sword. _
> 
> _ Itachi turned to face him. “This is it, Sasuke.” _
> 
> _ He knew, somehow, that his brother should be dead by now. He had no words for the emotions he felt. The strange mix of horror, exhaustion, and shock he felt as Itachi staggered towards him, still encased in the red chakra of his Susano’o. _
> 
> _ “Your eyes are mine.” Itachi took a slow step forward, his approach as inevitable as death. “I think I’ll take my time to retrieve them.” _
> 
> _ Itachi suddenly stopped to cough, collapsing to the ground. The chakra armor began to dissipate, and Sasuke threw his kunai. Somehow Itachi’s Susano’o was still strong enough to stop the attack. _
> 
> _ Itachi took another step, the red chakra making him appear as though he was on fire. _
> 
> _ Sasuke couldn’t move. His back was to a wall, he was exhausted, and even though his brother should have been easy to evade He. Couldn’t. Move. _
> 
> _ The murderer of his clan reached forward, hand dripping with blood. “They’re my eyes… Mine.” _
> 
> _ Sasuke’s felt a burst of energy, but his desperate attack was repelled yet again. All he could do was watch with some mix of horror, exhaustion, and bewilderment as Itachi reached forward. Slowly, so slowly, the unstoppable force of his hand moved towards Sasuke... _
> 
> _ And poked him in the forehead. Itachi smiled... SMILED! And collapsed. _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ Itachi’s body lay on the ground and he knew Itachi was finally dead. _

The boy gave out a quiet moan, moving restlessly in his sleep.

> _ His opponent was an old man, with bandages covering his eye and his arm. _
> 
> _ “Sasuke.. Uchiha, eh...” The old man began unwrapping the bandages on his arm. _
> 
> _ “Perfect… “ As the bandages unwound, Sasuke could see that something was clearly _ wrong _ with the old man's arm. _
> 
> _ “I can take _ both _ your sharingan” the old man declared, revealing a strange white arm embedded with multiple eyes. Sharingan eyes! _
> 
> _ He felt cold. He never knew anger could freeze. _
> 
> _ “How did you come by those eyes on your right arm?” _
> 
> _ “Various ways… it’s a long story.” _
> 
> _ “Your story would just make me more angry anyway. So never mind… Since I’ve already decided to kill you. But there is one thing I want to ask you first. _
> 
> _ Is it true that it was on your and the other Konoha elders’ orders… that Itachi Uchiha slaughtered my clan?” _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ The old man was now missing the sharingan arm, his clothing torn. He was now holding a red-headed woman in a choke-hold. _
> 
> _ “Sasuke - help!” _
> 
> _ “Don’t move, Karin.” He ordered. He felt nothing but cold calculation as he sent a beam of lighting _ right through the woman _ , piercing a vital organ in the old man behind. _
> 
> _ The red-headed woman - Karin - seemed shocked, her eyes sending a silent question. _
> 
> _ “Karin… If you’re slow enough to get taken hostage, you’re of no use to me.” _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ He was following the old man as he staggered, bloody feet leaving a trail. Sadistic pleasure filled him, making him laugh as he hunted down his prey. _
> 
> His hands clenched and unclenched until they found a pillow and held on tight.
> 
> _ A pink haired woman stood in front of him, her back to him as she looked down on the red-headed woman… on Karin. _
> 
> _ Karin stirred and gasped. “Don’t… Sasuke” _
> 
> _ A chirping sound filled the air as his hand filled with lightning. The pink-haired woman turned to face him, green eyes widening in shock as he drove his hand forward. _
> 
> _ A hand grabbed his arm, diverting the attack, and another ninja appeared. The new arrival had gravity-defying white hair, a mask covered his mouth and his hitai-ate covered an eye. _
> 
> _ “How far you’ve fallen, Sasuke.” _
> 
> _ … _
> 
> _ He was fighting the white haired ninja, and somehow he was not at all surprised to discover that the hidden eye was also a sharingan. _
> 
> _ ... _
> 
> _ He was holding the pink-haired woman by the throat, his other hand holding the kunai she tried to attack him with. He started his strike, but someone else grabbed the woman before he could finish. _
> 
> _ Yet another ninja appeared, this one a young man with bright blonde hair and fiery blue eyes, three whisker marks on each cheek. _
> 
> _ The young man turned to look at him, steely determination written all over his face. _
> 
> _ Blue… as blue as summer… as blue as the hottest of fires... _

With a loud gasp, the boy finally woke, mad laughter echoing in his mind. He sat up and stared at his hands for a moment, frowning in concentration. 

It had all been a dream. It lingered in his mind, oddly clear. He had been dreaming of Itachi, dreaming of Itachi dying. Dreamt of some strange old man bearing a sharingan arm, a red-headed woman. Dreamt of someone who looked oddly like an older Sakura, and Naruto from class. 

But most importantly, Itachi had died. Killing Itachi had been his sole purpose ever since That. Day. 

All he wanted was to avenge his family and kill the brother who’d murdered them.

So why had his dream felt more like - 

A nightmare.

********************************************************************

Sasuke had almost forgotten about his strange dream when he woke again that morning. He grabbed his homework and lunch and walked to school like always, thinking about what he had to do in order to get stronger.

He took his usual seat, staring out the window and determinedly ignoring the classmates around him.

“Take that, Ino-pig!” a shout drew his attention. He glanced at his pink-haired classmate - Sakura. One of the worst of his fangirls. A glimpse of what she could be like as an adult crossed his mind, the pink-haired woman in his dream. He frowned slightly as he considered her.

She noticed him watching, and squealed with glee. With a slight huff he turned his face away. _ Sakura? A competent ninja? Yeah, right. _

“Never fear, Naruto Uzumaki is here!” 

Sasuke glanced at the latest entrance. Who could miss Naruto, with his orange jumpsuit and bright blonde hair? Again, a slight frown crossed Sasuke’s face as he took in his classmate. The whiskers on his cheeks… The blue eyes…

The young ninja in his dreams definitely _ looked _ like an older version, but he had never seen Naruto look so serious before. 

_ Just some crazy dream… _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke begins to suspect it was more than 'just a dream'.

A week passed, and Sasuke probably would have dismissed his dream entirely if it weren’t for what happened next.

He was grocery shopping when he heard a yell. “Eternal Rival!!! I challenge you!”

He glanced over to see what the fuss was about, and froze when he saw the white-haired ninja being challenged by the loudmouth.

A ninja with gravity-defying white hair and a hitai-ate covering one eye.

Sasuke didn’t was in such a shock that he didn’t remember finishing his purchases and coming home. The next thing he knew, he was staring at his refrigerator after putting away the last of his tomatoes.

Thoughts kept circling round and round in his mind, pausing here and there but never really settling down.

Sasuke could somewhat understand why he’d dream of an aged up Sakura and Naruto. 

Well…he really couldn’t, but at least he knew they were in his class and figured it was just some sort of brain garbage or somesuch. He didn’t know why or how, but he at least knew who they were.

He had never, in his life, seen the white-haired ninja before.

How could he have dreamed of him? And what was under that hitai-ate? Could it be? Was it a sharingan?

If the white-haired nina was real, what about the old man with the sharingan arm?

_ What did the old man have to do with Itachi? _

Sasuke’s mind balked. 

Shaking his head, he grabbed a notebook and pen and sat down to write. 

  1. He dreamt of a ninja he had never met before.
  2. Naruto and Sakura were older
  3. The white-haired ninja had a sharingan
  4. The old man had multiple sharingan in his arm.

He gave a small frown as he looked as his notes. He was fairly sure it was Naruto and Sakura in his dream. As for Naruto - he didn’t know of any other ninja with whisker marks on their cheek, or hair that shade of blonde. And Sakura was the only one he knew with hair like that. 

If this wasn’t just a dream, the fact that they were older would indicate… what?

_ The future??? _ He jotted it down, circling it. There had to be some way of verifying things, though.

He absently started tapping the notebook with his pen as he thought. 

He’d start with something easy. Simple. He hadn’t been able to see the white-haired nina’s eye, but it should be pretty easy to find out if it’s a sharingan. If it was…

Sasuke shook his head slightly. Later. 

He’d focus on the white haired ninja first, and he thought he knew just the thing.

********************************************************************

Iruka hid his surprise when Sasuke approached him after class. 

Sasuke had always been an excellent student, on paper at least. But he stayed aloof from his classmates, and rarely talked to anyone unless he had to. Even his teachers.

“Iruka-sensei… “ Sasuke shifted slightly, and Iruka’s gaze sharpened. Taking a small breath, Sasuke continued. “Do you know of a ninja with a sharingan eye?”

Whatever Iruka expected, it wasn’t _ that _. Still, Kakashi’s eye wasn’t a big secret, and if Sasuke had heard about it somewhere he could see why he wanted to know more.

“You must mean Kakashi Hatake, he’s a very strong jounin. He’s also known as the Copy-Cat Ninja.” 

“Do you know how he got it?” Sasuke leaned forward, intent on the answer.

Iruka shook his head. “He’s had it since before I became a ninja. Do you… “ he hesitated for a moment, but this was the first time he’d seen Sasuke show interest in anything other than becoming a stronger ninja. At least, the first time since the massacre. “Do you want me to look into it?”

Sasuke tilted his head in consideration, then gave a minute shake of his head. “No, that’s enough.”

“If you’re sure… “ Sasuke was definitely one of Iruka’s prickliest and most difficult students, interpersonally at least. He felt for the kid, especially after the massacre. Iruka remembered how lost he had felt after his parents died, and he could tell that Sasuke had felt something similar. He shuddered to recall the vacant look on Sasuke’s face as his student appeared to go through the motions of living. It had taken weeks before Sasuke had shown signs of life, and when he did it was only to focus on fighting and schoolwork. Iruka had wanted to reach out to his student, but he had seen the way Sasuke rejected any form of pity… and with it, sympathy and empathy. 

Sasuke gave a curt nod and left, not noticing the troubled gaze that followed him to the door.

********************************************************************

Sasuke took a deep breath as he opened the door to the Uchiha Archives. He hadn’t been inside since before That Day, but if there were any records about Hatake-san’s sharingan eye, this is where they would be. After all, Iruka said Hatake had the eye before he became a ninja. That definitely meant before the massacre, before Sasuke had joined the Academy, and probably at least a couple of years before that. His clan would have known about it.

Each step kicked up a soft cloud of dust as he made his way to the section he wanted. Minutes of the Clan meetings - perfect. He scanned the titles, looking for the right time period.

Despite the white hair, Hatake hadn’t looked all that old, so Sasuke probably didn’t need to go back too far. Maybe a decade at most.

Sasuke pulled out a few of the folders, found a good place to read, and started going through the minutes in reverse chronological order.

The first few years seemed very focused on the aftermath of the Nine-Tailed Fox’s attack. Sasuke supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by that, though reading the minutes somehow made it seem more real.

He had known that the clan had changed locations afterwards, but he hadn’t realized the level of organization required to make that happen. 

  
Meeting after meeting discussed such things as funding, construction, and more. There were even numerous debates over whether the clan would accept village money to move the compound, or try to rebuild where they were without it.

Although Sasuke had initially been curious about everything, he soon got tired of the minutae and started skimming through everything. He’d take a quick glance at the summary and if nothing seemed relevant would move on to the next.

He occasionally came across meeting minutes where information was clearly missing, and wondered what the clan had discussed that they didn’t want any record of.

He was fairly certain any discussion of Hatake’s sharingan would have been public, though, so he let such idle thoughts pass.

He hardly noticed as the shadows lengthened and the sun began to sink. He had gotten into a rhythm. Scan the summary- flip, flip, flip - then scan another.

Finally, _ finally! _, he found it. Maybe a year or two before the Nine-Tails attacked, the clan minutes recorded a meeting where they discussed “Obito Uchiha’s bequest to Kakashi Hatake”. 

A furrow developed between Sasuke’s eyes as he carefully read through the notes. It seemed that Hatake’s teammate had been an Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Obito’s dying wish had been to give Hatake his eye.

Sasuke closed the folder and sat back, staring at nothing as he collected his thoughts.

Kakashi Hatake had a sharingan eye! Well, Iruka-sensei had confirmed that already, of course. But somehow seeing it in the clan archives made it more real.

And…

If his dream had been true in that regard, if Hatake had a sharingan eye just like he’d dreamed…

Then what about that old man, and his sharingan arm?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke never realized there was so much to being a Clan Head before.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage, set aside the most current pile of papers and motioned for his Anbu to let Sasuke Uchiha in.

He was curious about why the young Uchiha had requested this meeting. Even though Sasuke didn’t know it, he felt indebted to the young boy. He couldn’t tell the boy as much, of course. Still, so long as whatever Sasuke wanted was reasonable he would do what he could.

“Lord Hokage” Sasuke nodded in greeting.

Hiruzen waved for Sasuke to sit, then leaned back and pulled out his pipe. “Good afternoon, Sasuke.” A stream of smoke drifted up as he exhaled. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Like most Uchiha, Sasuke’s face showed little expression. He reminded Hiruzen so much of his parents - Fukaku’s sternness, Mikoto’s coloring. Hiruzen squelched the pang of sorrow and steeled his expression.

“As you know, I am now the Uchiha heir, and will hopefully be the head of a clan someday.” 

Hiruzen nodded and took another drag from his pipe. True, true. Not something Sasuke had ever brought up before, but true nonetheless.

“Since I was the second son, I haven’t any training as a Clan Head, and there’s nobody to teach me.” Sasuke took a small breath, then continued. “I would like to request a mentor, someone to help teach me what I need to know.”

Hiruzen paused to consider this for a moment. While true, Sasuke was also the only member of his clan at this time, and training him as a clan head hadn’t seemed necessary yet. Besides, the boy had seemed solely focused on training… presumably to get strong enough to fight his brother. While this request seemed like a good thing, it was quite the change.

“Are you sure you want to do this now? You’re still a student at the Academy. Additional lessons would require some commitment on your part, and may distract from your studies.”

Sasuke nodded in understanding. “I am aware of that, Hokage-sama. At the same time, I know that the other clan heirs in my class are already learning their duties, and as I’m currently the top student I am confident I will be able to handle the extra work.”

Hiruzen smiled with pride. Good points, all of them. More importantly, he was glad to see the young Uchiha focusing on something other than getting stronger. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea… and he knew just the right person to help.

“Very well. Give me a few days to make arrangements, and I will see that it’s done.”

Hiruzen puffed on his pipe and watched as the Uchiha subtly relaxed. “Feel free to schedule another meeting with me whenever you wish.”

Sasuke nodded, though Hiruzen noted a slight stiffness to the movement. It looked like the boy wasn’t willing to open up any further. Not like his classmate, then. Hiruzen smiled slightly as he thought of Naruto, whose openness and informality came as a breathe of fresh air.

“I will keep that in mind, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your consideration.” Hiruzen nodded in easy acceptance. He could tell the boy’s Uchiha pride meant it was unlikely Sasuke would take him up on the offer, but at least the offer had been made. He inhaled a bit more smoke and mused on that as the boy left his office.

********************************************************************

Sasuke wasn’t really sure what to expect when the Hokage arranged for a mentor. Not that he was too concerned about who was selected. His request was just a means to an end, really. He recalled that the old man in his dream was some sort of an elder, and he figured training to be a Clan Head was a convenient excuse to try and find him. 

And who knows? Maybe the lessons would be useful. In another ten years or so, when he was finally ready to rebuild the Uchiha.

Still, he hadn’t expected to wind up at a flower shop. Internally shrugging, he opened the door. A bell jangled somewhere, and before he got any further a loud shriek filled his ears.

“Sasuke-kuuuun!!!” 

  
Sasuke winced as his classmate, Ino, hurried over from behind the counter. “Are you here to buy some flowers? Oooooooo, who are you buying them for?” 

Sasuke tensed at her attack, but an older and deeper voice cut in. 

“Ino! He’s here for me.” Ino pouted, but stopped her charge.

Sasuke relaxed as a man came in through the side door. He had long blonde hair tied up in a pony tail, much like Ino. Sasuke could see the resemblance, and realized this must be her father.

“Sasuke, it’s good to see you. I’m Inoichi,” the man approached and held out a hand. His eyes held a slight twinkle as Sasuke shook it. Assessing the situation quickly, Inoichi continued “How about we take this elsewhere. Would you like some tea?” 

Sasuke nodded with barely hidden relief. Anything to get away from Ino.

“Ino, I’ll be out for a while. Take care of the shop, okay?” 

Ino grumbled a bit but stayed behind as they left.

Inoichi led Sasuke to a tea shop further down the street. The staff seemed to recognize him, and Sasuke assumed he was a regular here.

“I hope you like it here, they have an excellent Darjeeling tea,” Inoichi kept up a light conversation as they were seated and placed their orders. The man was more chatty than Sasuke expected, but the cup in his hands was warm, the smell refreshing, and he felt himself relaxing slightly.

Inoichi held the tea cup in his hands and took a sip, then sat back and gave Sasuke a serious look. “Now, the Hokage said you wanted to learn about being a Clan Head?”

Sasuke sat straighter and nodded.

Inoichi gave him an assessing look. “What do you think a Clan Head does?”

Sasuke felt a little bewildered. “They… “ he hesitated. “Well, they lead the clan.”

Inoichi smiled with gentle amusement. “Yes, of course. Why, though? And how?”

Sasuke wasn’t sure what to say. His father was the Clan Head, of course. And he knew his father had a lot of responsibilities, and was very busy. But he was the second son, hadn’t been the heir, and he had been too young to pay much attention to what all his father did.

Taking pity on him, Inoichi continued. “Each clan is different, of course, but we all have some of the same duties.”

“Sasuke… “ Inoichi studied him for a moment. “Being a ninja is a dangerous profession. Many end up injured or dead, and at a young age. A Clan Head helps make sure that injured ninjas have a home, that they can pay their bills while recovering from an injury, and that the families they leave behind are taken care of. 

“They also make sure that clan techniques are preserved, and that the next generation is trained properly.

“They have to know their clan laws, and when an issue falls under clan or village law.

“And they have to make sure the clan has the resources for all this.”

Sasuke nodded. He was having a hard time wrapping his head around it, but it made sense. Thinking back, he can even remember his mother telling his father about visiting the family of a deceased ninja. It had seemed like a typical clan or family thing to do, but in hindsight she was also giving him a report. 

Inoichi paused to sip his tea. “Each clan does this in their own way, of course. Some take a fee from the missions their clan members go on. Others find… other sources of revenue. My flower shop, Nara medicines, Inuzuka veterinarians… the Aburame even use their bugs for pest control.

“But that’s just part of the job. The main purpose is to take care of our people, and there’s one skill that’s absolutely essential for doing that.”

“What’s that?” So far this discussion hadn’t gone anything like Sasuke expected, and he couldn’t even begin to guess what the answer was.

Inoichi smiled. “Delegation. Delegation, which includes assessing and evaluating, well… everything.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

“Look, to be a good Clan Head you have to know the laws, you have to manage clan finances, and training, and more. There’s so much to do that no  _ one _ person can do it all. If I tried being our clan lawyer, accountant, and trainer I’d have no time for anything else. I couldn’t be a shop keeper, a ninja, or even much of a father.

“What’s most important is knowing who you can trust to do those things for you. And if nobody knows, or if the only person who knows is getting old, then you have to make sure someone else is learning how to do the job so they’re ready when the time comes.

“And you have to know enough to evaluate whether they’re doing the job right or not, and you have to check in periodically to make sure it’s being done. 

“You have to know enough about accounting to know if someone is embezzling your clan funds, or a trainer is abusing their position. You have to know when an issue is complicated enough that you need a clan lawyer, and how tell if they actually know what they’re doing. You also have to represent your clan interests to others - other clans, village leaders, and even civilians you want a business relationship with.

“Your job, Sasuke, is learning how to evaluate, use, and develop the skills of the people around you.”

Sasuke nodded slowly, frowning in concentration. It… did make sense. He had never thought of it that way, but it  _ did _ make sense.

“That’s a skill that’s useful for everyone, and not just Clan Heads,” Inoichi mused. He snorted slightly at Sasuke’s bemused glance.

“Think about a ninja team. I was on the famed Ino-Shika-Cho team, a combination of skills that works rather well together. The Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara clans are not necessarily the most powerful clans… individually. My clan jutsus can leave us vulnerable, the Nara jutsus take a lot of concentration, and the Akimichi jutsus are strong… but not very subtle. Together, though, we make up for each other’s weaknesses and are able to take on enemies that are a lot stronger than each of us individually.

My jutsus are especially useful at detecting genjutsu, where the Nara and Akimichi might be weak. The Akimichi are great at physical battles. The Nara… Well, even though their jutsus are great at holding opponents in place, they’re real talent is their ability to make the most out of all the resources on hand.

“No one ninja can specialize in ninjutsu, taijutus,  _ and  _ genjutsu. There’s always a trade off. That’s why we tend to get ‘good enough’ that we can defend our weak spots, and then really focus on our specialties. Individually we may do well enough, though any of us could lose if we come across an opponent that’s especially skilled in something we’re not. Together, though?

Inoichi gave a fierce smile. “Together, at least one person on our team should be able to handle anything we come across.”

“So… “ Sasuke spoke slowly, giving himself to think this through. “You think I should focus on… on delegating?”

Inoichi laughed. “More like, I’d like you to keep that in the back of your mind while we focus on all the other things. After all, in order to delegate you  _ do _ have to know how to do the job right in the first place.

“No, what I’d like you to start with the basics. Learn your clan laws, learn how to manage clan finances, that sort of thing. I’ll also start bringing you to some of the various meetings - clan meetings, the village council, that sort of thing. Then you can see how the application of all these skills.” Inoichi studied Sasuke for a moment. “Do you know where to find your clan laws?”

Sasuke thought about it. “I think there was a section in the Clan Archives on that.” And maybe there was something in his father’s study, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to go looking there.

Inoichi nodded. “Then that will be your first assignment. We’ll talk about what you find the next time we meet.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke thinks about what he's learned, and maybe even tries to put some of it into practice.

Sasuke questioned what he was doing many times over the next few weeks. His new studies sometimes felt like an unwanted distraction.

Life was so much simpler when all he had to do was get stronger so he could kill  _ that man _ .

And yet…

Hatake-san really did have a sharingan eye, just like his dream. And if that was so, if there was some possibility that the old man had an entire sharingan arm under those bandage - 

As the last Uchiha, he couldn’t let  _ that  _ stand.

Besides, he realized a few things as he brushed up on clan law. He had always focused on getting stronger, but how good of a Clan Head would he have been. After…

Brushing up on his clan’s laws made him realize that there some things he really needed to think about. Maybe not right now, of course, but in the future. After all, a lot of the laws had to do with marriage, and keeping the Sharingan within the clan. But he would pretty much  _ have _ to marry outside the clan, so that clearly wouldn’t apply. And his children, whenever he had them, would have to marry outside as well. 

But his children’s children? How long would his clan last, if they kept marrying outsiders? Could he tell them that they had to marry their cousins? Did he even want to?

He didn’t need the answer right now, of course. He didn’t even have any children in the first place. But he was coming to realize that restoring his clan would take a lot of work. He’s not sure he’d have ever thought about it if he’d continued to neglect the Clan Archives.

He also felt confused about his mentor. Inoichi-san. The man was far more open than his father was. He was far more expressive than Sasuke’s father was, but he couldn’t deny the quiet authority the man held. Nor the warmth, although he felt a bit like he was betraying his father at the thought.

He’d questioned Inoichi about that, not in so many words, of course. Inoichi just gave a quiet laugh and told him that there were many different leadership styles. That he didn’t have to be a Clan Head the same way Inoichi was, just that he had to find his own style.

Inoichi had taken him to a couple of village meetings - nothing critical happened at them, and Inoichi told him that quite a few of the other Clan Heads skipped such trivial meetings. Still, it was interesting to see how the Clan Heads and village leaders interacted with the civilians… 

Inoichi made it clear that they had to maintain their forces, but that keeping the civilians happy was important to keeping the village strong. Something about how ‘ninjas don’t generally grow food’, and that civilians put up with a lot in a ninja village. Given the reports he’d found of the trouble drunk ninjas created - the most common problem he’d found so far - he could see Inoichi’s point. His first meeting seemed to go on forever, with a lot of people repeating things other people said. Seemed the business owners wanted to expand the market district, but the best location was a nina training ground and the village leaders didn’t want to give it up. Nothing really seemed to be resolved by the end of it, but Inoichi said that was pretty typical of these sorts of things.

He also found himself thinking about what Inoichi had said. About delegation, and developing people. He didn’t exactly have any way to practice delegating, of course. As a student, they all had to do their own assignments, and develop their own skills.

But he found himself eyeing his classmates… differently. He’d always ignored them before. Brushed them off as weak. Inferior. Needless distractions. 

Now, however, he found himself quietly watching them, particularly Sakura and Naruto. Well, Naruto really. Sakura still came across as more focused on what she thought he wanted then on being a good ninja. Even though his dream had hinted that she had potential, he just couldn’t see himself working with her. Even just thinking about it made him wince.

But Naruto…

He found himself watching his classmate more and more, and was surprised to realize just how little attention he was getting from the instructors. Mizuki in particular.

When they went outside to practice throwing kunai, Mizuki barely even  _ looked _ at what Naruto was doing.

If Naruto was under his supervision, if he was a Clan Head responsible for his training, he would never have accepted that.

Today was just like all the other days. Mizuki had taken them outside to practice throwing their kunai. Sasuke had deliberately ignored Sakura, Ino and the other girls cheering him on when it was his turn to throw.

And then Naruto had to make a fool of himself, bragging that he’d be just as good and then missing every target. The boy then grumbled a bit as he collected his kunai and started walking back to the crowd.

“I practice kunai throwing after school, I could show you a few tricks.” 

The words were out of Sasuke’s mouth before he even realized it, and he wondered what the hell he was thinking.

Naruto looked at him in shock, and for a moment they just stood there, staring at each other. 

Sasuke felt like he’d made a mistake. He barely had time to keep up in class, maintain his own training schedule, and keep up with what Inoichi was showing.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Naruto broke out into a wide grin. “Really?!? Yeah, that’d be awesome! Next time I’ll hit ALL the targets, believe it!”

He pumped his fist in the air, practically dancing with excitement.

Sasuke closed his mouth and nodded.

********************************************************************

After school, Naruto gave Sasuke a questioning glance, as if he wasn’t sure they were really going to train together. 

Sasuke hid his own uncertainty and waited for the boy to join him. He ignored Naruto’s chatter as best he could, already questioning his decision.

Still, he brought Naruto to his favorite training ground and did his best.

So far as he could tell, Naruto’s technique was  _ horrible _ . He was amazed his classmate was able to hit anything, really. 

But he also noticed that Naruto paid attention when he corrected his form, and practiced his throws over and over and over again until he got it down.

Sasuke wondered how the hell none of the other teachers had noticed and corrected this before, and he was forced to conclude that Naruto was… well, trainable.

A thought crossed his mind, and he frowned slightly.

“Yeah! Sasuke, look at that! I hit every target!”

“You still missed the center on two of them.” 

“But I hit them!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Naruto.. “

“Huh?”

“You keep saying you want to be Hokage, but you barely pass our tests. How do you think you can be Hokage if you don’t know what you’re supposed to.”

Naruto laughed brightly. “That’s easy! I’ll just ask someone smart to help… like Sakura-chan! She’ll know the answer, and I’ll be the best Hokage ever!” 

Sasuke stared at Naruto.  _ This guy… _

He shook his head, dismissing the thought. “Here, let me show you how to throw multiple kunai at once.”

He might, just might, have smiled a little as he said it, but he’d deny it to his dying day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The man with the sharingan arm?

Sasuke’s life settled into a new routine - study for the Academy, practice his ninja skills, learn more about being a Clan Head, and train with Naruto once or twice a week. 

He wouldn’t say that his goals had changed - he still planned to kill a certain man and restore his clan - but he had to admit, if only to himself, that ‘restoring his clan’ had been tacked on as an afterthought. He had just sort of assumed it would happen as soon as he had a family.

He shuddered to think of how unprepared he’d been. 

He had also added ‘find out about the man with the sharingan arm’ to his goals. He wasn’t sure what he’d do when he found the man, and he didn’t want to think too closely about what connection the man might have with Itachi.  _ Orders? Why had he demanded to know if Itachi had been  _ ordered _ to kill the clan? Why? Why would they do that? Why would Itachi actually agree to do so? What if -  _

It had also become somewhat of a routine to push aside such questions. They made Sasuke uncomfortable, seemed to eat away at his certainty. His determination. 

_ It didn’t matter _ , he told himself. Everyone was still dead, and Itachi was the one who had killed them.

But he still kept an eye out for the old man. Finding out if someone had stolen his family’s eyes was  _ important _ . And if Sasuke had any other reason for looking he buried it as deeply as he could.

Finally, months later, his patience paid off. Inoichi had taken him to another meeting of the Village Council. Inoichi had warned him that there’d be a full crowd, since they were discussing this year’s budget. 

Sure enough, the council chambers had been packed. Representatives were filling each of their assigned seats, and various interested parties were watching from the side.

That was where Sasuke saw him - an old man, which his arm and one eye covered in bandages. Sitting to the side, watching the council with a cold and calculating expression.

Sasuke surreptitiously kept an eye on him, which was why he caught it when one of the council members glanced at the man, speaking only after the old man gave him a short nod.

He waited for people to clear out before turning to Inoichi. Doing his best to sound casual, he asked “Who was that old man in the audience? The one to the left, with the bandaged arm and eye?”

“Danzo Shimura,” Inoichi’s face darkened. 

“Sasuke… “ Inoichi looked troubled, as though struggling to find the right words. “Be very, very careful around that man.”

Sasuke gave him a questioning look.

Inoichi glanced around the room. There were still a few people here and there, engrossed in their own discussions. 

“Let’s go to the teahouse, we can continue this there.”

Sasuke’s mind whirled as he followed the older man out. He had finally found another figure from his dreams, but Inoichi’s reaction was setting off all sorts of warning bells.  _ Danzo Shimura, huh? _ If the mere mention of the man made Inoichi, a Clan Head, seem cautious… just who was this guy? Sasuke knew, if his dream was accurate, that Danzo had to be dangerous. But Inoichi’s caution hinted at something… darker.

********************************************************************

Later that evening, Sasuke practiced throwing kunai as he turned over everything he had learned. The rhythmic thudding as each kunai slammed home was soothing, the simple task somehow making it easier to think things through.

Danzo Shimura was powerful. Not just physically, but politically as well. Sure, Inoichi had told him that the man retired some four or five years ago, under a dark cloud… though nobody seemed to have any real details on that.

Inoichi had just warned him that the other Elders were just as old as Danzo, that it had seemed strange for the man to retire of his own free will, and that many suspected something else was going on at the time.

And Danzo, even though he no longer had an official title, still seemed to have a great deal of influence. Inoichi claimed that Danzo had his fingers in a lot of different pies, that he was an old war hawk who was determined to keep Konoha strong. And that the old man used to be on the Hokage’s genin team. Even though Danzo was no longer officially on the council, he still had the Hokage’s ear.

Sasuke frowned as he retrieved his kunai and walked back to his throwing point.

Danzo  _ did _ have a bandaged arm, just like in his dream. What was hidden under those bandages? Did he really have sharingan eyes embedded there? Or was it just some old injury?

How could he find out? Danzo was powerful, and if Inoichi’s caution was any indication, he was smart and clever, too. Nobody seemed to suspect a thing.

Sasuke briefly thought about telling Inoichi everything, but…

Inoichi was responsible for his own clan, and clearly didn’t want Danzo as an enemy. Sasuke felt reasonably confident that Inoichi didn’t support Danzo. That he would be horrified on Sasuke’s behalf and probably take action, but...

Could he ask this of him? Even if Inoichi personally wanted to help, would his duties as Clan Head prevent him from doing so?

Sasuke reluctantly decided against it. Reluctant in part because, if not the man who had been teaching him for months, who else?

A cold feeling grew in his belly as he realized there was no one,  _ no one _ , he could turn to.

Maybe…

Maybe Iruka-sensei could help? He’d been willing to answer Sasuke’s questions about Hatake-san. He wasn’t a clan head, so far as he knew.

Even though an Academy instructor probably wasn’t very powerful, he might be able to give Sasuke some advice, at least.

It was still a risk, but at this point Sasuke had to take a risk somewhere. 

Decision made, Sasuke finally collected his kunai and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I haven't really had a beta for this thing (and really hate proofreading my own stuff, since I wrote it my mind tends to skip parts I'm familiar with, which is pretty much all of it, so I tend to miss typos and things), and caught a mistake in the first chapter.
> 
> If you do see that sort of minor error, feel free to let me know and I'll fix it.


	6. Chapter 6

The kids rushed from the classroom like they were getting out of prison. With a fond sigh, Iruka sat down at his desk to get some grading done. He didn’t get very far before he felt Sasuke’s presence.

“Iruka-sensei… Can I speak with you?”

Sasuke looked uncharacteristically hesitant as he waited for Iruka’s answer.

“Of course, Sasuke. How can I help?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Sasuke paused, as though searching for the right words. “You remember when I asked about Kakashi Hatake?”

At Iruka’s nod he continued. “I know this will sound strange, but I didn’t hear about it from anyone in the village.” Sasuke took a deep breath and plunged ahead. “I had a dream. I didn’t even realize it was about a real person until I saw Hatake-san at the market.”

Iruka sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. He wasn’t sure what to make of this. He’d assumed Sasuke had heard about Kakashi’s eye from one of the villagers or something. It’s not like it was a great secret, or anything. But… a dream? And why tell him now?

“There was more to the dream than that. Naruto and Sakura were there, though they were older than they are now. And… 

“And I also saw an old man, with bandages covering his arm. And more covering an eye.”

That sounded awfully familiar. What with chakra and ninjas wielding power that almost seemed magical, Iruka had seen a lot in his ninja career. Still, having dreams about people you’d never met was definitely - odd. Especially since that last description sounded an awful lot like Danzo.

Iruka frowned, but motioned for Sasuke to continue.

“I found out who the old man was the other day. Danzo Shimura.” Sasuke was watching Iruka intently as he explained. “In my dream… In my dream, Danzo was hiding an arm with that had multiple sharingan embedded in it. And - it’s just - 

“If Kakashi had a sharingan eye, if my dream was right, then _ what’s under Danzo’s bandages _?”

Iruka blinked. That was… well. He could see why Sasuke would be upset about this. But Danzo was, well, _ powerful _. Well respected, if not liked. The retired ninja was known for his cunning and strength, and was definitely not one to cross. That’s what rumor said happened to his predecessor. She’d hadn’t been all that old when she retired, and she’d seemed to really love teaching. But from some of the whispers and rumors he’d heard when he started at the Academy, she seemed to have crossed Danzo. 

Iruka felt as though a huge weight had settled on him.

“Thank you for coming to me with this, Sasuke.”

“I _ need _to know what’s under his bandages!” 

Iruka nodded slowly. “That will be… “ Iruka hesitated. Impossible, he wanted to say. Danzo was too powerful, too well connected. But he could tell that Sasuke wasn’t going to let this go. And, if the boy was right, what Danzo had done was outrageous. Horrible. It was theft on a grand scale, and against a clan that was all but gone. 

“Difficult,” he finally concluded.

Sasuke nodded. Clearly his training with Inoichi had made him more aware of the challenges. “I know, but there must be _ something _!”

Iruka ran a hand through his hair. “Yes, there must be something. Sasuke, can you wait a few days? Give me some time. I’m sure I can find an answer for you.”

Saske hesitated. “You’ll keep me informed, right? Tell me what’s going on?

“I promise.” Iruka hid a wince as he said it. He couldn’t help feeling as though he was biting off more than he could chew. Danzo! 

Sasuke gave a small nod of acceptance. “I can’t promise to wait forever, Iruka-sensei. If he stole my clan’s eyes… !”

“Sasuke,” Iruka tried to impress upon the Uchiha his seriousness as he continued. “Danzo is dangerous. I’ll see what I can do, but I want you to promise me that you won’t do anything on your own.”

Iruka had a hard time reading the boy as he thought that over. He knew Sasuke, knew that when the boy set his mind on something he pursued it with a level of determination that was almost scary.

Finally, reluctantly, Sasuke nodded. “I won’t do anything on my own, Iruka-sensei. But only if there’s a better way.”

Iruka let out the breath he’d been holding, and nodded. “Then we have an agreement.”

After Sasuke left, Iruka found himself staring at the papers he’d planned on grading. His concentration was shot, and there was no way he could focus on them now. He packed up his things and headed home, mulling over the tangled mess Sasuke had just handed him.

After a restless night, he made his way back to the academy, no solution to be had. It was only when he saw the black ponytail of his laziest - and smartest - student that he got an inkling of a plan.

At lunch he made his play. “Shikamaru, can I have a word?”

Shikamaru gave him a curious look. “Sure, Iruka-sensei. What do you need?”

“I would like a word with your father. Please tell him to stop by whenever he gets the chance.”

If the issue wasn’t so serious, Iruka would have laughed at Shikamaru’s expression. He was fairly sure the Nara was reviewing everything he’d done and wondering whether he was in trouble.

“Sure, can I tell him what it’s about?”

Iruka waved him off. “I’ll explain when I see him. Don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble.”

Now that his main concern was allayed, Shikamaru gave a lazy shrug. “Sure. It’ll be troublesome, but I’ll let him know.”

  


********************************************************************

Shikaku felt a stirring of interest as he made his way to the Academy. Iruka-sensei’s request was unusual, to say the least. His son wasn’t able to tell him much, which only heightened his sense of curiosity. So far as he could tell, his son’s instructor was a fairly reliable Chunin. Steady, and good with children. He and the other clan heads were lucky to have him teaching their children, especially since he never seemed to try and take advantage of his connection to so many clan heads. By all the reports, his son was doing about as well as can be expected for a Nara. Which is to say, Shikamaru did the bare minimum to pass, but for the most part stayed out of trouble and learned what he needed to.

Iruka looked up from his grading when Shikaku knocked on the door. “Ah, Shikaku! I’m glad you came!”

The chunin seemed relieved to see him, and stood up to welcome him in. “Come in, take a seat.” 

He waved at a nearby chair.

Shikaku took a seat, his relaxed posture at odds with the alertness in his gaze.

“Shikamaru said you wanted to see me?”

“Ah, yes… “ Iruka cleared his throat and glanced around surreptitiously. To Shikaku’s surprise, he reached out and touched one of the silencing seals. Sure, Academy instructors were equipped with them - necessary to protect students privacy at times - but he hadn’t expected Iruka to invoke them. 

So. A serious matter, indeed.

“I recently learned something which, well- ”

Shikaku raised an eyebrow. 

“I can’t tell you my source. Not right now, at least. And my source doesn’t have any _ proof _, so we can’t act on it… “

Iruka was almost babbling. Interesting.

Iruka stopped to collect himself.

“What do you know about Danzo’s arm?”

Whatever Shikaku was expecting, it wasn’t _ that _. “Pretty much what everyone knows,” his voice came out in it’s characteristic low rumble. “Some old injury, he can’t use it. Keeps it wrapped up in bandages.”

“Yes, well. My source heard that the arm is actually fully functioning. And worse - that Danzo has implanted multiple sharingan in it.”

Shikaku’s breath caught as his mind furiously started working. He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers, his slow movements belying the speed of his thoughts.

“How certain is your source?”

“Uh… not very? I was hoping you could help me find a way to verify this information.”

“Hmmm. And preferably _ without _letting Danzo know, I take it?”

Iruka gave a relieved nod.

Danzo… Shikaku couldn’t say that he liked the man. Disagreed with him on a lot of things, to be honest. But would he really… ?

Well, that wasn’t really the question, was it? Iruka asked him how they could confirm or deny the accusation. This obviously wasn’t something you could bring to the Village Council. Not without a lot of proof, at least.

Still… A niggling idea began to grow. All they had to do was find out whether there was something odd about that arm. And if a sharingan - no, _ multiple _ sharingan - were implanted in the arm, it would signs. It would affect his chakra system for sure. Which meant a Hyuga should be able to see it. In fact, the only reason a Hyuga wouldn’t already have noticed is because it’s not considered polite to use your doujutsu in non-combat situations. Not without a clear need, at least. 

Really, too many people would worry about their privacy if they thought the Hyuga were peeping on them.

Shikaku carefully considered his options. Yes. That would work… and if the information was wrong, no harm done.

If it was right… Well. As his clan likes to say, that would be _troublesome._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having Shikamaru use his catchphrase 'troublesome' seemed a bit out of place there (to me, at least. He does use it a lot, I know, but not every other sentence) but I couldn't resist.
> 
> Not exactly happy with this chapter, but it needed written to get on with the other stuff, so here you go. :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some answers, which lead to more questions.

“What. The. Hell. Shikaku!” Shikaku’s heart sank as Hiashi stormed into his office. The normally stoic Hyuga clan leader

Shikaku forced himself to show a calm he didn’t feel. “You found something, then?”

“I did what you asked,” Hiashi grumpily took a seat. “Took Keiko with me to a meeting that I expected Danzo to be in. You know Keiko - she’s got a true talent for being overlooked. She had the best chance of surreptitiously checking his arm out. 

“Do you know what she told me?” Hiashi snorted. “She said the chakra in his arm was all strange - it was an entirely different color! And it flowed strangely - more like, like some sort of vegetation than a person. Even worse, the chakra collected in ten different spots. Nothing like tenketsu, they were too big and strangely placed for that.  _ And  _ the chakra in his hidden eye was the same color as his arm!

“What’s this all about? I don’t know what you were expecting, but that definitely isn’t what an arm is supposed to look like.”

“I was confirming a rumor. I had hoped you wouldn’t find anything, to be honest” Shikaku gave a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead. “Troublesome,” he muttered to himself.

Hiashi gave him a piercing glance. “What rumor?”

Shikaku sighed again. “I trust you won’t speak of this until I’ve made some arrangements?”

Hiashi nodded curtly.

“Someone heard that Danzo had imbedded multiple sharingan in his arm.”

Hiashi stared at Shikaku. “That’s… “ his mouth opened, then closed without a word. His face turned dark as he continued “That’s disgusting. The only way he could have gotten those sharingan is from the Uchiha. That’s… ”

He visibly collected himself. “It’s bloodline theft. Even worse, it’s desecration of the dead. I know I didn’t always like the Uchiha, but no clan deserves that. And the massacre just makes it worse.”

Shikaku nodded. 

“This is unacceptable. If Danzo could do that, who knows what else he could do. You will include the Hyuga in your plans?”

It wasn’t really a question, though Shikaku nodded anyway. “Of course.”

Hiashi nodded in confirmation. “I expect to hear from you soon.”

The Hyuga clan head left his office, and Shikaku leaned back to consider his next steps. Now that he knew  _ something _ was wrong with Danzo’s arm, it was probably time to find out more about whoever had handed him this particular mess. Whoever Iruka’s source was, he or she might know something more.

********************************************************************

Sasuke sat at the end of the pier where he’d first practiced the Fire Release. Iruka-sensei had given him an update, had said that they’d found something… And then asked him if he’d be willing to speak with Shikaku about his dream.

He wasn’t sure he was willing to do that. There were a lot of disturbing things in that dream, or series of dreams, and he’d been pushing those thoughts aside.

At first… well. At first it was because he’d thought it was  _ just _ a dream. It hadn’t made a lot of sense, but then, what dreams do?

Even when he started to suspect it was more than that, even when he’d wondered if it had been a glimpse of the future, he’d been able to set aside any serious thinking about it because… well, what proof had he had, really? 

Hatake-san and his sharingan eye? Even if he didn’t remember meeting the man, it was possible he’d heard something, somewhere. How could he take a dream seriously, anyway?

But Danzo’s arm, well. That’s different. That was something nobody else seemed to know.

And if that was true…

The ghost of unhinged laughter echoed, and Sasuke winced.

He had been  _ fighting against _ Hatake-san. And Sakura. And Naruto. 

And - and this was the worst part, the part he kept poking at and then pushing aside - what about his claim that the elders had  _ ordered _ Itachi to kill the clan?

Why would they do that? Why would Itachi  _ agree _ to it? Did it change… anything? Nothing? Everything?

After watching the village council in action, Sasuke was well aware that there were factions in the village. He knew that there were many in the village who disagreed with and disliked Danzo. Inoichi, for one. Iruka-sensei. Shikaku. Apparently even the Hyuga. 

If he agreed to tell Shikaku everything, what would he make of it? 

There was a dark and angry part of him that wanted to yell and demand answers. Wanted to shake Danzo and demand to know  _ everything. _

Did they order Itachi to kill everyone? Who all was involved?  _ Why _ ? 

Did the Hokage know?

How could he not?

But then, if the Hokage knew, if nobody else in the village appeared to know, then surely this was a very big secret. One even the Hokage would stop from coming out.

Sasuke frowned to himself.

Maybe… Maybe he ought to try thinking as a clan head, instead.

He found that, sometimes, it gave a certain clarity and perspective he hadn’t known he’d been missing. Like his plan to kill Itachi. He’d wanted that for his own sake, and for the sake of all the family members Itachi had murdered.

But when he thought about it as a clan head, he wanted Itachi dead because how could the clan ever be safe when the man who’d murdered practically everyone else was still a threat? How could he start rebuilding the clan if Itachi could come back and kill everyone again?

But… 

If Itachi hadn’t done it to test himself, then maybe he wasn’t a threat… ?

Sasuke wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell Shikaku. He still wasn’t sure what to make of his dream. Sometimes regretted how it had torn apart all his certainty, and the simplicity of his previous goals.

Still, there were some things he probably ought to warn them about. While reading up about clan laws and such, he’d learned a bit more about the sharingan. 

His clan had some - interesting - laws regarding the mangekyou sharingan. Would even dismiss certain crimes if it was proven that the Uchiha in question had recently awakened it. They hadn’t put it in so many words, but it read almost like village laws regarding ‘temporary insanity’.

He’d also read up on Susano’o, which Itachi had used in their dream fight. And while the dream had skipped around a lot, and he didn’t recall much of the fight with Danzo, he remembered having the impression that the old man just would  _ not _ die.

Some of the clan laws mentioned certain forbidden techniques - like Izanagi. If Danzo had that power, he really needed to warn Shikaku.

Can he just leave out the bit where he was attacking Konoha ninjas? 

And - the question that sat in the back of his mind like a giant boulder - should he mention that village elders might have ordered the massacre?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting of minds

After going back and forth a few times (with Iruka as the go-between) Sasuke finally agreed to meet with Shikaku in Iruka’s office after school. Iruka had offered to sit with him for it, and Sasuke agreed. Iruka-sensei had done a great job of not telling Shikaku who he’d be meeting with until Sasuke gave the go-ahead, and he knew his teacher was in his corner.

Sasuke had decided what he was willing to tell, and what he wanted out of it, and for the most part felt ready. He still felt a little nervous. By all accounts, Shikaku was smart. Like really,  _ really _ smart, and who knows what the man would be able to pick up from their discussion.

A light knock on the door signalled Shikaku’s arrival.

Upon entering, he glanced at Sasuke and shook his head. “You were definitely not the source I was expecting for this.” 

Shikaku took the remaining seat and leaned back. “Iruka said you had a dream?”

At Sasuke’s nod, he continued. “I’d like you to tell me everything you can. You never know what information might be important, and the more the better.”

Sasuke quelled his remaining doubts - it was showtime. “First, I want your promise that I’ll be a part of your plans.” 

Shikaku frowned slightly.

“As the clan head, I owe it to the Uchiha whose eyes he stole. I  _ will _ be a part of this!” 

Shikaku slowly nodded. “You’re almost a genin, now. You graduate, when? In a few months? Very well, but in return… you have to promise to do what you’re told.” His voice was firm, and unyielding. “I’m serious about this, Sasuke. Danzo is dangerous, and I can’t predict how he’ll react. If you’re going to be there, you could be a distraction, or worse. Are we agreed?”

Sasuke nodded reluctantly. Much though it galled him, it was a reasonable request.

“Now, Iruka said you had a dream?”

“Yes. I - I thought that was all it was at first, to be honest. There was no coherent timeline, no context for anything… and” Sasuke gathered himself for a second. “And I saw Sakura and Naruto, though they were- older. It wasn’t until I saw Hatake-san at the market, and confirmed that he had a sharingan eye, that I began to think there was anything more to it.

That… I don’t know. That maybe they were dreams of the future?”

“Hmmm,” Shikaku seemed sunk in thought. “ _ A  _ future, perhaps.” He caught the questioning look on Sasuke’s face, and continued. “If our plan goes well, you may never face Danzo the way you did in your dream. Have any of the events you dreamt about occurred yet?”

Sasuke shook his head.

“Then you won’t know if it was a true glimpse of the future until it actually happens. It could be that you’ve changed things so that they won’t occur that way.”

That made sense. And a small part of Sasuke relaxed at the thought. 

“Can you tell me more?”

Here’s where Sasuke had to be careful. “I - some of it was - personal. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail. But Danzo… I was fighting him. That’s how I knew about his arm. He revealed it during our fight.

“I’ve been reading about Uchiha laws, and techniques, and I think… I remember he was very hard to fight. Hard to kill.” Sasuke swallowed. “I think he was able to use a forbidden technique.”

Shikaku sat straighter in his chair, and gave Sasuke his full attention. “An Uchiha technique?”

Sasuke nodded, then glared at the older man. “A clan technique. I’m only telling you because Danzo might use it.”

“Peace, Sasuke” Shikaku said with a lazy rumble. “I’ll protect your clan secrets, just as I’d hope anyone who learned a Nara technique would do.”

Sasuke gave a satisfied nod. “Izanagi. It’s a powerful technique, but it comes at the cost of your eye. It was forbidden because too many Uchiha went blind, trying to outdo each other using it. For a short time, it allows the user to essentially re-write reality.”

Shikaku drummed his fingers on his chair. “Re-write reality… “

Sasuke nodded. “Basically, Izanagi allows you to undo any lethal attack, and make it seem as though you were never hit.”

“And Danzo has multiple sharingan, if the Hyuga are correct, he may have as many as ten. Eleven if the covered eye is also one.” Shikaku frowned as he thought through the implications of that. “A powerful technique, indeed.”

Shikaku shook himself, and turned his attention back to Sasuke. “Anything else?”

Sasuke hesitated. “At the end of the fight, Danzo had lost the arm. But it looked - weird. He wasn’t bleeding like a normal injury would. It looked “ he struggled to find some way of describing the  _ oddness _ . To be honest, that was another reason he’d originally dismissed it all as a dream. “It looked more like a tree, after one of it’s branches had rotted away. It was paler than the rest of his skin, and jagged.”

Shikaku gave a low, gravelly hum as he processed that. He had never heard of such a thing. It sounded almost like… almost like one of the First Hokage’s wooden clones. But, just the arm? Still, the possibilities were disturbing, to say the least. Well, he’d think more about it later. 

“Thank you, Sasuke. That helps a lot.” He stood up, but paused before leaving. “If you think of anything else that might be useful, please contact me. And… “ he hesitated, then continued. “I won’t pry any further, but I hope one day you will trust me with the full story.”

“Shikaku-san… “ Sasuke struggled with himself for a second. “How much do you think the Hokage knows about Danzo?”

Shikaku exhaled, and seemed to grow older at the question. “You’ve been learning about leadership from Inoichi, right?”

“The hard part about delegating is trusting that the people under you will do their jobs faithfully and well. Sometimes you trust the wrong people, and sometimes you don’t trust the right ones. Learning how to judge people is something that comes with experience, and even then we can still get it wrong.

“That’s part of being human. And yet… whether we know what people do in our name or not, we’re still ultimately responsible. Whether it’s deliberately looking the other way, or just not knowing to look in the first place, we’re still responsible. The Hokage, like anyone in a leadership position, knows that.”

Sasuke’s brow furrowed as he struggled to make sense of that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost feel sorry for Sasuke. My take on him... well, in canon I think he's a very black and white kind of character. Itachi = evil, kill Itachi. The village = evil, destroy the village. Most of his reasons make sense when you consider what all he went through, of course, but it took Naruto beating sense into him at the end for him to start losing some of that rigidity.
> 
> And here I am, refusing to let him continue thinking so straightforwardly. It does make it interesting, though, trying to figure out how he'll react to things. How much of his canon character was due to Orochimaru's seal, and Itachi messing with his mind? In canon, I kind of think he'd be like "I demand to know whether the elders ordered Itachi to kill the clan", because that's essentially what he DID. Except that was also coming after he killed Itachi (and perhaps had guilt over that, since he clearly loved his brother and had been pushing all that aside to focus on vengeance), and after he was told all about it in the worst way by Obito.
> 
> So, like... this is a younger Sasuke. One who's already been forced to start thinking less rigidly, and he's way too weak to go head to head with Danzo and/or the Hokage. 
> 
> And he's learning that there's a lot of grey in the world.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the pieces are in place.

Sasuke had a hard time focusing over the next couple of days, wondering when he would hear anything further. Shikaku hadn’t promised him that they’d act any time soon, but he still felt like he might hear something at any moment.

After a few days, he realized that whatever was going to happen, it wasn’t going to be soon. After that, he mostly pushed it all aside and went back to his usual routine. 

About a week later, Naruto showed up to practice with a big grin on his face.

“Sasuke, Sasuke! You’ll never believe what I learned! Watch this, it’s sooooo cool!!!” 

The blonde was bouncing with excitement. When he was sure Sasuke was watching, he put his hands together and yelled “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Five other Naruto’s appeared next to him. He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “I only meant to do one, guess I still need to practice.”

“Hn.” Sasuke observed the clones closely. “You finally mastered the clone jutsu?”

“They’re not regular clones, their shadow clones!” Naruto practically shouted. “Look! Look! They’re solid!”

One of his clones came up to Sasuke and tried punching him. Sasuke easily blocked it, and turned his movement into a grab and throw. 

Huh. Regular clones couldn’t do that. “Where’d you learn this?”

“This old guy with really long white hair taught me. He’s suuper- pervy,” Naruto’s face twisted in disgust “but he really seems to know his stuff.”

Sasuke considered the clones standing there - that could be really useful. “Hmmm. Think you could teach me?”

Naruto’s face fell. “Sorry, Sasuke. The pervy old guy said not to teach anyone without su- super-... He said not to teach anyone without an adult watching. Said it could be dangerous if you don’t have enough chakra or something. But hey!” Naruto’s face brightened. “We just have to find someone to do that! I’m sure you’d be fine!”

Sasuke was tempted, though finding someone might be a bit of a pain. “We can check with Iruka-sensei. Maybe he can do it.”

Naruto - and his clones - pumped his fist in the air and they all started to shout with enthusiasm. “Yeah!” “Iruka-sensei is awesome!“ “I’m sure he’ll help!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Dealing with  _ one _ Naruto was challenging enough. More of them, though?

Still… he contemplated the bouncing mass of Naruto’s in front of him. “Hey, Naruto?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s see how your clones do in a spar.”

The young boys - and clones - gave each other fierce grins. “Yeah!”

********************************************************************

Sparring with Naruto’s new jutsu was - interesting. Neither of them were used to fighting with, or defending against, large quantities of opponents. One good hit would dispel a clone easily, and Naruto’s clones tended to get in each other’s way, so Sasuke did pretty well at first. It got harder as Naruto got better, though Sasuke got better at handling multiple opponents as well. If the clones stopped blocking each other’s attacks, Sasuke got better at throwing them into each other.

By the end of their sparring session both boys were exhausted - and grinning from ear to ear. That is, Naruto was grinning and Sasuke was doing his version of one.

And Sasuke was so worn out that he fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow, and slept soundly the entire night through.

So of course he finally -  _ finally!  _ \- heard something from Shikaku that morning. Everything had been arranged, and he just had to attend the council meeting the following day.

He’d have to miss school for it, but Iruka understood. Sasuke barely paid attention in class, and rushed home as soon as they were dismissed. 

Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My official story is that Shikaku, being a cautious shinobi and worried about what Sasuke told him about Danzo's powers, wanted to make sure Jiraiya was in town before tackling Danzo.
> 
> And Jiraiya, well... I'm moving some canon events forward a bit (i.e. Naruto meeting him, obviously), and since Jiraiya seemed to really understand how much chakra a jinchuriki could wield, and wanted Naruto to learn how to use it, taught Naruto the Shadow Clone jutsu.
> 
> This is already an AU, but we're about to go off the canon rails. 
> 
> Kept this short, because I didn't want to start the next bit in the middle of the chapter. Next time, the show begins!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The council meeting begins, and a motion is carried.

Inoichi waved Sasuke down as he entered the council chambers. Sasuke noted that Inoichi had picked a spot a bit towards the edge of the room. Not his normal spot, but Shikaku had told Sasuke to stick by Inoichi when Danzo was dealt with. This location was a bit more out of the way, though it still offered a good view.

Sasuke wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but accepting it was part of the agreement he had made with Shikaku in order to be there in the first place. He supposed it was good enough.

He made his way to Inoichi’s side, doing his best to act like this was any other (dull and boring) council meeting. Though ‘dull and boring’ may be a bit harsh. Once you knew the underlying issues, council meetings actually became a fascinating exercise in dissecting agendas from carefully chosen words.

This meeting promised to be something else entirely.

The room gradually filled as more and more council members joined in. The average council meeting was not normally so well attended, creating a buzz and murmur as the uninitiated realized something was up.

Choza made his way over to them, nodding a greeting as he took a seat.

Then Danzo made his entrance. Choza nudged Sasuke, and murmured “don’t look. It would make him suspicious.”

“More suspicious,” Inoichi quietly added. “That man is _ always _ suspicious.”

Waiting was torture. Every second seemed to stretch on forever, an eternity in which Sasuke was hyper-aware of his every move. Would looking everywhere _ except _ at Danzo also be suspicious? Was he sitting too rigidly?

What was _ normal _, anyway? And how do you portray that when you’re feeling anything but?

Sasuke tried to distract himself by watching the crowd. He told himself he was watching to see if anyone would give the game away. 

Watching the other clan heads was - interesting. They clearly were experienced at hiding their tells. Sasuke could sense an undercurrent of tension, but that was all.

The Hokage made an appearance, which was also unusual for a typical council meeting. The Hokage could overrule the council and serve as a tie-breaker, but for the most part he stayed out of civil issues. Sasuke supposed it made sense - the Hokage had enough to do managing his ninja forces without having to decide on every street name or zoning issue.

Time seemed to progress with glacial slowness until Elder Mitokado called the meeting to order. Before the retired ninja could start with the official agenda, Shikaku stood up to speak.

“Elder Mitokado, Council-members. There is a clan issue that I would like to bring to the council’s attention. I motion table this weeks’ agenda until the issue has been dealt with.”

A wave of murmuring broke out at Shikaku’s words. He was calling on a rather little-used law from Konoha’s founding, put in place to allay clan concerns that they would lose too much autonomy if they joined the village.

“I second the motion.” Hiashi Hyuga stood in support.

“Very well,” Mitokado frowned at the clan heads. “All in favor?”

He gave a disgruntled look as every clan head raised their hand, with many others following their lead.

“The motion carries,” he pushed his glasses up his nose and turned to Shikaku. “What is the issue you would like to address?

Shikaku cleared his throat. “An allegation which, if true, betrays the trust our clans gave to Konoha.”

Shikaku turned to look straight at Danzo. “Danzo Shimura, what is under those bandages?”

Gasps of shock rose from the crowd, and an ugly expression crossed Mitokado’s face. Danzo, on the other hand, looked cool and unruffled, the only change to his expression a slight narrowing of his eyes.

“What is it that you accuse Danzo - a respected elder of this village - of?” Mitokado demanded.

“I do not accuse,” Shikaku replied. “I merely request his assistance in putting this matter to rest. An allegation was made that Danzo has implanted sharingan eyes - the eyes of the Uchiha clan - in his arm. This is a matter of grave concern, not just to my clan but to all the clans who agreed to work together in this village. I simply ask Danzo Shimura to help lay this issue to rest, and show us his arm.”

The crowd grew louder, and Sasuke felt eyes turn towards him at the mention of the sharingan. 

Danzo slowly stood, leaning on his cane. “Where did you hear such a preposterous thing?”

Shikaku stood his ground. “That doesn’t matter. Your arm, Danzo-sama?”

“I will not respond to baseless accusations. Where is your proof?”

A gentle cough interrupted the stand-off. “You are not on trial, Danzo.” The Hokage’s ‘‘yet’ was unsaid, but clearly understood.

“And Shikaku has claimed this is a clan issue, in accordance with clan law.” He gave a stern, albeit tired look at his former friend. “All you need to do in order to disprove the claim is show us your arm.”

Danzo looked around the council chamber, his solitary figure standing out like an old and gnarled tree on a plain.

“I see you won’t be dissuaded,” he coldly replied. One hand moved, very slowly, towards the dark robe covering his right arm.

The world held its breath.

“Stop him! He’s activating a seal!” A loud voice exploded the silence, and everyone burst into motion.

What happened next was too fast for Sasuke to see, but by the numerous masked shinobi that were sprawled in a circle around Danzo, it appeared as though Konoha’s Anbu had reacted - and been soundly defeated.

“What is the meaning of this, Danzo?” the quavering age in Elder Utatane’s voice belied the steely determination of her gaze.

“I will not let anyone, not even _ you, _ Hiruzen, destroy this village with your weakness!” Danzo turned a defiant gaze on everyone in the room.

“I think you misunderstand who is destroying the village, Danzo.” The Hokage also stood, and took off his robes, revealing the battle armor underneath. 

Something seemed off to Sasuke. “He’s stalling,” Inoichi murmured, and Sasuke nodded in realization.

Stalling - but for what?


	11. Chapter 11

Danzo stood in the middle of the council chambers, masked Anbu sprawled around him like debris after a lightning strike.

The majority of people who had been sitting next to him had backed away, leaving as much space as possible in a crowded chamber.

“What are you doing?” Disbelief and dismay warred on Mitokado’s face as he looked at his wartime colleague. He sensed Utatane step up to his right, and the Hokage his left. The same four who fought together under the Second Hokage, and for a moment Mitokado felt a sense of homecoming. 

“Something I should have done a long time ago.” Danzo calmly but firmly declared. “I hadn’t planned on doing this now, but, well. Plans change.” 

Mitokado felt a blur of movement, his only warning that Utatane had launched her senbon. Utatane was good, but they both knew Danzo was too experienced to be caught that easily. 

The senbon clattered to the ground as Danzo, as expected, blocked every one of them.

“Enough talking.” Utatane kept one eye on Danzo as she pulled out another set. 

The sound of metal clashing against metal came through the walls, soon accompanied by muffled yelling and the occasional boom.

A large man with long white hair landed next to the Elders. Glancing in Shikaku’s general direction, he commanded - “You handle the intruders,  _ we’ll  _ handle Danzo.” 

Sasuke absently realized that this was the man who had warned them about the seal. He caught a glimpse of blurred motion as the newcomer burst into action, somehow making his hair grow long enough to reach Danzo. 

Long experience led the other elders to move at the same time, throwing a variety of attacks at Danzo in unison.

Sasuke could have sworn at least  _ one _ of the attacks hit. Danzo couldn’t have dodged them all, and he thought he had seen blood. But then he blinked, and Danzo was standing to the side, completely unharmed.  _ Is this - Izanagi? _

Then the sounds of fighting grew louder as it spilled into the chamber, and Sasuke saw strangely masked ninjas attacking. Shikaku yelled at Inoichi “Warn the village! Choza, you know what to do!”

Then Choza was growing large, larger than Sasuke thought was humanly possible, and Inoichi knelt down behind them. “Sasuke, defend if you have to, but don’t attack! This will only take a minute.” Then the blonde man started some sort of jutsu.

Sasuke moved into a defensive position, though it seemed almost unnecessary what with Choza acting as a living wall. He tried to make sense of the chaos in front of him, but he had a hard time keeping up with the speed of the action. 

From what he could see of the fight, it was mostly taijutsu. Which made sense. The chamber was so crowded that any large jutsu would just as likely hurt allies as enemies. He soon realized that Choza’s size made him an easy target, and the mixing of friend and foe made it hard for the large man to attack in turn.

He heard a grunt as another attack struck, though the Akimichi armor seemed to keep any of the hits from turning deadly. He wanted to help in some way, but all he saw was flickers of movement. A masked ninja clashed with Tsume, the Inuzuka clan head. Then a blurring of motion, and they clashed again five feet away.

One of the masked ninjas stabbed a Konoha ninja with a sword. Dark shadows solidified into weapons and pierced him - her? - her. 

Sasuke heard a loud buzzing noise, and saw another ninja collapse. Then Shibi Aburame stepped forward, a cloud of bugs rising from the body to greet him.

The fight seemed to go on forever, little whirlpools of chaos spinning through the room, and Sasuke wondered what was taking Inoichi so long.

He hated feeling helpless, hated not doing anything… his inability to even  _ see _ what was going on galled him. How could he do anything when he was so  _ slow _ ?!?

His grip tightened on his kunai, his eyes flickering from side to side. Slowly, slowly, his brain started to make sense of what he was seeing. 

A mass of enemy ninja were over there, trying to reach Danzo. Blocked by Hiashi and a couple of other clan heads.

Masked ninja were fighting to the right - Anbu against the enemy. A sudden explosion blew a hole through the wall, and they seemed to take their fight outside.

An odd movement caught Sasuke’s eye, and he saw an enemy ninja turn towards Choza. He threw  _ something _ . Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he strained to see.  _ What was it? Where is it? _

_ There! _

With a sense of triumph, Sasuke threw his kunai, knocking the incoming shuriken away. Suddenly, everything seemed so crisp and clear.

“Good job,” Choza grunted. 

Sasuke’s eyes gleamed red as he went back to scanning the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh. *Rubs back of head sheepishly*. Lots of comments about cliffhangers in the last chapter, and it's cool that everyone's so interested in this li'l ol' story of mine. But, like... 
> 
> I've got a good sense of how I want this all to go down, it's going to take a few chapters to get through, and unfortunately almost all the narrative breakpoints are going to be - yep - cliffhangers.
> 
> I'm not *trying* to do that, I swear! It's more like, I could have included the beginning of this chapter in the last one, and it still would have ended on a cliffhanger. 
> 
> I actually had planned to add something else in this here chapter, but the fight scene went on longer than I expected so I'll just have to add that to the next one. 
> 
> Luckily, as I said, I've got a good sense of how I want this to go down. Which means I won't leave you all hanging for long! Heck, I'm sort of on a roll, and it's Sunday (so I don't have work, and can devote more than my usual time to writing) and I know what I want to have happen next, so I might even go on with the next chapter.
> 
> It'll still be cliffhanger, probably.
> 
> Anyways. In other news, I caught an error in the last chapter. Ugh. I honestly do know it should've been 'entrance' and not whatever it was I typed instead. I hate catching stupid stuff like that after the fact.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile...

“Naruto! What are you doing?!?” Iruka stared in exasperation as his most difficult student stared mulishly back. “You’re supposed to be in class!”

“But class is so booooring!” Naruto whined, struggling in his teacher’s grasp. “And Sasuke’s not there,” he muttered, more quietly.

Iruka’s face softened, and he sighed. “Sasuke was excused for the day. You weren’t. Now get ba- “

Iruka suddenly stopped talking, and his grew blank. He seemed to be listening to something or someone Naruto couldn’t hear.

Then Iruka blinked, and a worried expression crossed his face. “We need to get back to the Academy. Now.”

Naruto shut his mouth, and stopped protesting as his teacher started to haul him back to class. He may not be the best student, but he could tell that something was going on.

Then four masked ninja appeared, and things really got strange. 

“Hand over the boy,” the lead ninja commanded. 

Iruka pushed Naruto behind him. “Naruto, RUN!” he commanded, then turned to glare at the masked ninja. “I won’t let you have him.”

Naruto didn’t know what was going on, and was running towards the academy when his brain caught up to him. He ducked into an alley and stopped, catching his breath and thinking things over.

Those guys were after him! And Iruka-sensei was still back there! Iruka-sensei…

He couldn’t leave Iruka-sense behind! He just couldn’t!

But what could he - 

He pounded one fist into the other as an idea came to him. Perfect! 

Putting his hands together, he performed his newest jutsu.

********************************************************************

Shikamaru yawned and closed his eyes. Another boring day at the academy. 

Iruka-sensei was off somewhere, probably chasing down Naruto or something, and Mizuki was droning on and on about their alliance with Suna. What did he care about Suna, anyway? 

Mizuki-sensei cut off in the middle of his lecture, and Shikamaru opened his eyes. He watched his teacher’s expression change from blank to startled to serious, and sat up straighter in his chair. Something was most definitely up.

Mizuki cleared his throat. “Ah, class… Change of plans. We’re going to practice our emergency procedures. Everyone follow me! We need to reach the nearest shelter.”

Students looked at each other in confusion as they started filing towards the door.  _ Was it a drill? Was something going on?  _

Their teacher was acting  _ weird _ .

Alarm bells started to ring, and a sense of urgency took ahold of them. Most of the students had filed out when a small explosion shook the academy building, and a hole appeared in the outside wall.

Shikamaru just had time to glimpse a masked ninja when Mizuki-sensei hurriedly called up an earth-jutsu to block the door and started pushing them along.

“Wait!” Ino yelled. “Sakura is back there! We can’t leave her behind!” 

Akamaru gave a small bark from his place on top of Kiba’s head, and Kiba chimed in. “Yeah! And Shino, too!”

Mizuki glared at them. “We have to get to the shelter. It’s more important to evacuate everyone here than it is to go back for them.”

Ino stomped her foot. “Fine, then take everyone else! I’m staying.”

“You can’t stay here! I will NOT explain to your father why you were left behind.” Mizuki looked around. The majority of the class was already down the hall, with only a few pausing to glance back at the scene. Ino and Kiba were glaring at him, while Shikamaru and Choji were standing beside them. Hinata was nervously glancing between them, but had unconsciously begun moving closer to her classmates. 

Mizuki’s jaw tightened. “I will not explain to  _ any _ of your fathers why you were - “

Mizuki’s eyes bulged as he stopped moving.

“Shadow Possession Jutsu, complete” Shikamaru quietly announced.

He nodded to Choji and released Mizuki just as Choji knocked their teacher out.

“Wha- ?” Kiba stared at Shikamaru in shock.

“We’re not leaving anyone behind,” Shikamaru confirmed. “Ino, take Mizuki and the rest of the class to the shelter.”

Ino’s jaw firmed and she glared at Shikamaru. “Why do I have to do that? Let one of the others do it.”

“Because I need Hinata to see what’s going on over there, Choji to break through the wall, and Kiba to help fight.” Dismay crossed Ino’s face, and Shikamaru continued. “We’ll get them, Ino. I promise.”

She swallowed and glanced away. “Oh fine! I’ll do it.” Ino’s gaze swung back to Shikamaru, full of fiery determination. “But you had better keep that promise,” she pointed a finger at him. “Or so help me… “

“I know, I got it!” Shikamaru stared stubbornly back. With a final huff, Ino turned to go. “Troublesome woman,” he muttered.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto shows off his new jutsu, and Sakura learns that bugs can be very useful.

Iruka grabbed another brace of kunai from his pouch. He knew the odds weren’t all that great - there were four of them, and only one of him - but all he had to do was keep them occupied long enough for Naruto to get away. He was grateful for Inoichi’s mental broadcast. It had given him a precious few moments to prepare.

He had numerous small cuts and was breathing heavily, but he could handle that. He was more worried about the kunai that had slipped through his defenses, and was now embedded in his right thigh.

His eyes narrowed as he scanned his opponents. He’d managed to get one, but the other three were unscathed.

Ah, well. A shinobi’s life was never long. So long as Naruto -

“Hey! You guys! You must be really ugly to wear masks like that!”

Iruka could only gape as his loud-mouthed student stood on top of a building, yelling at the enemy ninja.

It was hard to read the masked ninja, but they stared at Naruto with a stillness that seemed to indicate shock.

“I won’t let you hurt Iruka-sensei!”

Motion caught Iruka’s eye. He caught a glimpse of orange -  _ orange?  _ \- and then three paint cans swung down, aiming for the back of the masked ninjas.

One of them had just begun to turn when they hit, knocking all three out.

“Yes!!!” Naruto pumped his fist in victory. 

“Wha- ? How - ?” Iruka stared as Naruto - and  _ two other Narutos?  _ \- approached their victims and started to tie them up. When he was finished, he high fived himself and turned to face Iruka, giant grin on his face.

“That was awesome! I’m going to become Hokage in no time!”

Questions sprinted through Iruka’s mind. Were those  _ solid  _ clones? Where did Naruto get the rope? And paint? But more importantly - 

“WHY DID YOU COME BACK?!?” All the fear that had filled him upon seeing Naruto here, instead of several blocks safely away, came welling up. 

“I couldn’t just  _ run away _ ” Naruto responded as though the answer came from the very center of his very being, as though any other decision was as ridiculous as an avalanche deciding not to fall.

Iruka had never seen Naruto look so serious before. Then the moment passed, and Naruto was just - Naruto.

Iruka shook his head, and started limping towards the bodies. 

“You’re hurt!”

“Just a little. Let me check your knots, then we need to get to the Academy.

********************************************************************

Sakura had never been so frightened before. The day had started out fairly normal - other than Sasuke-kun’s absence, of course. But then Mizuki-sensei had halted the lecture - and Suna had sounded so interesting, too! - and told them that they were going to practice their emergency procedures.

She supposed practicing their evacuation procedures  _ was _ necessary, but she wished they could skip it. She’d dragged her feet a little as they started to file out of the classroom, making her one of the last ones to leave.

And then an explosion knocked her off her feet. By the time she’d gotten her bearings, there was a hole in the classroom wall and at least ten masked ninja inside.

“The boy is one of our targets. The girl is useless,” the lead ninja said, her voice strangely flat. 

And Sakura was scared, more scared than she’d ever been, more scared than when Ami was bullying her… but she was also  _ angry _ . 

**Useless!?! ** _ How dare they call her useless, shannaro! _

They didn’t seem to think she was a threat, focused solely on the other person in the room. And that was Shino, they called Shino a  _ target _ … Actually, they said he was  _ one of _ their targets. Because he’s a clan heir? Are they going after  _ all  _ the clan heirs? After Ino?

Speculating on their goals helped distract Sakura, kept her from paying attention to the lead weight in her gut. Slowly, she moved her hand. Slowly slid her legs into position.

When the nearest ninja got close enough, had passed her by -  _ call her useless, will they?  _ \- she popped up and bashed him over the back of his head with a chair.

“Oh, excellent job!” a voice called out. Standing by the entrance was another ninja - a Konoha kunoichi! - wearing a tan overcoat, dark orange miniskirt, and a mesh armor shirt.

“I got Inoichi’s message and was on my way when I heard an explosion. Lucky me, looks like I get to have some fun right here!”

Half the ninjas turned to face the woman. 

And then they all collapsed.

“You have my gratitude,” Shino intoned, small bugs rising from the collapsed ninjas. “Why? Because you, Sakura, and you” Shino nodded at the woman “provided the distraction necessary for me to place my kikaichu on them.”

“Call me Anko," the kunoichi glanced at the collapsed ninjas. "Looks like we’ll be busy in T&I tonight.” Anko suddenly stiffened, then blurred into motion. 

Next thing Sakura knew, Anko was standing by them and facing the hole. The light-heartedness evaporated from her face. “About a dozen more are coming,” she grimly readied a kunai. 

Sakura heard a buzzing sound that grew louder and louder as Shino let loose a swarm of kikaichu. “Sakura, you may want to move closer. That is because they appear to want me alive. They are unlikely to send anything lethal in my direction.”

“Here,” the kunoichi reached into her ninja pouch and handed Sakura a couple of kunai. “I’ll try to take out as many as I can, if you see a chance to escape - take it.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few things get resolved, honest!

“Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!” One of Naruto’s clones ran up to where Naruto was helping Iruka hobble along.

“They’re attacking the Academy!”

“I see we’ll have to cover proper reporting procedures” Iruka murmured as they came to a stop.

“Huh?” Iruka heard in stereo. He sighed, and continued. “SALUTE - Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time and Equipment. Report!”

The clone rubbed the back of his head. “Ummm, well. Size? Uh. I saw at least five, but I could tell there were more inside. There’s a giant hole in our classroom wall!”

Iruka motioned for him to continue. “Right, right. Activity - attacking the Academy, like I said! And that’s the location, too!” He added triumphantly.

“And the rest?”

“What was the next one? I forgot?”

“Unit, Naruto. Unit. Then Time, and Equipment.”

“Okay. Umm. Unit. Well, they were all wearing masks, just like those guys that attacked us. Time, uh… about five minutes ago? And equipment? They seemed to have the usual ninja gear, I think. Maybe one of them was carrying a sword?”

Iruka decided they could work on his reporting style later. This sounded  _ bad _ . Even worse, most of the jounin were already at the village administrative building - the council chambers were there, and anyone who heard Inoichi’s broadcast was probably headed there, too.

He looked at the clone speculatively. “Hey, Naruto? How many Shadow Clones can you make?”

“I don’t know, lots?”

“I want you to make as many as you can.”

“Sure thing, Iruka-sensei!” Naruto stepped away from his teacher and put his hands together.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Iruka gaped as the road was suddenly  _ filled _ with clones, all wearing Naruto’s trademark orange jumpsuit and bright grin.

_ How - ?!? _ Most jounin could only do two, maybe three if their reserves were really large. This, though! He couldn’t even count how many clones Naruto had made.

“Lots, indeed.” Iruka gave a fierce grin. “All right, Naruto. Send all but thirty of them to go find help. Spread out through the village, but send the majority towards the village center. That’s probably where most of our ninjas are. Grab anyone you see, and tell them to head towards the Academy. And give them a proper report!”

“Sure thing, Iruka-sensei!” “You got it!”

Iruka faced a barrage of responses as the clones enthusiastically accepted their orders.

“The rest of you, head to the Academy as fast as you can! We’ll meet you there.” After another chorus of replies, the street cleared out. Naruto - the real Naruto - assisted Iruka as he continued to hobble forward. He just hoped they’d make it in time.

********************************************************************

_ So this is what a jounin fight is like _ . Sakura could barely make sense of the fight. One minute, Anko was throwing senbon on the right, the next she was clashing with an enemy ninja on the left. Anko seemed to be really, really good - but she was outnumbered, and there were even more ninjas that weren’t even fighting her.

In fact, they seemed to be watching Shino.

“I suspect that one knows fire jutsu,” Shino calmly commented. “Why? Because they said I was a target, and it would be foolish to target an Aburame without fire or water with which to fight our allies, and that ninja is watching us closely.”

“So you can’t send them to help Anko,” Sakura concluded.

Shino nodded. “At the same time, they do not appear to want me dead, as they have not tried to attack the kikaichu I am keeping around me.

Sakura nodded, the buzz of his hive almost soothing. She had never imagined she’d find herself feeling grateful for bugs, of all things!

It seemed like a standoff, of sorts, but that couldn’t last. Not if they truly intended to capture Shino. “They’ll have to attack sometime,” she spoke her thoughts aloud.

She detected a hint of warmth from Shino as he agreed. “Although waiting allows them to take care of Anko, if they wait too long someone else may interfere. And whoever comes is more likely to be a Konoha ninja. They will have to make their move - “

Shino was interrupted by a loud crash, and a large green - boulder? ball? - rushed past them, headed towards the enemy ninja.

“Fang Passing Fang” rang out as whirling tornado spun past. Was that Kiba?

From the latest hole in the classroom wall, a quiet voice said “Shadow Possession, complete”. Four of the ninjas fighting Anko suddenly stopped, frozen in place. 

Hinata rushed past, and took down one of the frozen ninja while Anko - grinning gleefully - took out two more.

As Hinata knocked out the last of them, Shikamaru released his jutsu and stepped forward. 

“Shikamaru?!?” Sakura could only stare.

“Yo!” he waved. “It’s a bit of a pain, but Ino would never let me hear the end of it if I allowed anything to happen to you.” He shrugged and slouched down a bit, as if he’d had no choice but to help.

“Very nice,” Anko interjected, “but we don’t have time to chitchat.”

More enemy ninjas entered the room. Shikamaru grimaced at the sight. His plan had worked, for the most part, but he knew a large part of that was because they had the element of surprise. That, and he noticed that the enemy ninjas had dodged Choji and Kiba rather well - but refrained from launching anything lethal in return. Perhaps they didn’t want to kill them? It did make a certain amount of sense - why attack the Academy at all, if not to get hostages. And what makes a better hostage then the children of Konoha’s most powerful clan leaders?

He pushed such thoughts aside and studied the ninjas in front of him. 

“You kids, go stand next to Shino” Anko directed. “If you’ve got any medium or long range attacks, get ready to use them.”

They nodded and quickly gathered within range of Shino’s protective bug umbrella.

“I’ve got my kunai, but most of my attacks are close range,” Kiba complained. Akamaru barked twice in agreement.

“M-my clan techniques are also close range” Hinata added.

“I can send my kikaichu out, but I suspect they are ready for that and would launch a fire jutsu,” Shino commented. 

Shikamaru grimaced. It looked like he was the only one with the required technique. Ugh, so troublesome!

“Okay, Shino, you keep protecting us up close. The rest of you, ready any throwing weapons you’ve got. Take a look at what you have, if you’ve got any extra give it to someone who doesn’t. I’ll use my clan techniques - our goal is to try to distract them. Keep them from mobbing Anko, any way we can. Trip them, distract them, every little bit helps.

His classmates nodded and started pulling out whatever weapons they had. 

With their help, Anko managed to defeat a couple more ninjas, but Shikamaru could tell she was beginning to get tired. Fights - real fights - are exhausting and over in a matter of minutes. That’s what his father had always told him, at least. And while Anko had been fighting continuously, some of her opponents had not. 

Luckily, their earlier entrance had whittled down the opposition enough - and made taking down the students difficult enough - that Shikamaru didn’t think the enemy ninjas could bypass Anko and attack them directly.

He asked Hinata to keep an eye out with her byakugan, just in case.

A few tense moments later, Hinata stiffened and whispered “someone’s coming!”

Some sort of disturbance was occurring outside the classroom, and Shikamaru strained to make sense of it. 

Hinata was staring in that direction, byakugan activated. “I think they’re here to help! They’re fighting with the ones outside.”

“Hey, Anko! I hear this is where the party’s at! Mind if Kotetsu and I join?” a masculine voice called out.

Anko gave a wild laugh. “Izumo! The more the merrier!”

With their newest allies, the fight grew even more energetic as the enemy ninjas grew more and more desperate. 

Hinata suddenly gasped. “Someone’s coming!”

“Friend or foe?” Shino said in a calm and collected voice. 

“It seems - familiar, but… I don’t… “ Hinata’s forehead crinkled in confusion. “There’s so many of them! But they’re all the same!”

“Never fear, Naruto Uzumaki is here!” a loud voice cried out. 

“Naruto?” four voices cried out in disbelief. 

“Y-yes.” Hinata confirmed. “But - I don’t know why there’s so  _ many _ of him!?! There’s like thirty of him.”

“Thirty Naruto’s? That sounds scary” Choji threw another kunai at a ninja that had stopped to look at the ruckus.

“Oh!” Hinata gasped. “Three of them just disappeared - they’re clones!”

A few of the clones spilled into the classroom, making the fight even more chaotic and frenzied. 

Shikamaru noted that Naruto still wasn’t that good as a fighter, but he seemed to excel at tripping up or getting in the way of the others. 

Slowly, one by one, the enemy ninjas dwindled. The last one was soon surrounded by Anko and the chunin Shikamaru presumed were Izumo and Kotetsu.

Just as he was caught in sticky syrup, Iruka-sensei staggered in with Naruto - the real Naruto? - assisting.

Relief and euphoria coursed through them as they realized it was over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for anyone who is curious about this sort of thing - 
> 
> Technically, after riding high on their victory, they'd realize it's a bit premature to celebrate. I mean, they still don't know what's going on with the rest of the village, and for all they know there might be more enemy ninja roaming around. Which means they'd probably set Hinata on watch and start figuring out what to do (i.e. do they go to a shelter? Somewhere else? What about the defeated ninja - not all of them are dead, so do they send them to T&I or treat their wounds or what?)
> 
> That's the aftermath type of stuff, which means things are never really over until it's over, and a lot of dull and not-very-story-friendly details have to get sorted out...
> 
> But from a narrative perspective, it felt write to end it on the emotional high of a victory. And as for the fight with Danzo, and Sasuke, we'll start dealing with that soon.
> 
> Also (again, for those interested in this sort of thing) I decided that Danzo would send about thirty ninjas of chounin to jounin skill to capture any of the clan heirs - and the jinchuuriki, natch - because he's not against taking hostages if he thinks it's necessary, and Naruto is a key piece in village power and all that. I mean, he did do that to Karin, if you recall.
> 
> So four stopped to grab Naruto, ten were taken out by Shino, four more were taken out when Shikamaru and co. made their surprise entrance, Anko took out a couple more, and then the remaining ten or so were handled mostly by Anko, Kotetsu, and Izumo with assistance from the kids in the classroom and Naruto's clones.
> 
> Also, a Naruto clone totally told Kotetsu and Izumo where to go.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, at the Council Chamber...

Sasuke kept scanning the room. He’d started to make sense of the fight, but the whirls of violence weren’t his concern. 

Rather, he was keeping an eye out for stillness. Signs that someone unengaged in the fight had decided to attack the biggest target in the room.

Much of the fighting had spilled out through the hole in the wall - ninjas on both sides seeking space for their jutsus - but that just meant the room was less crowded. Significantly less crowded now that the civilians had cleared out.

He skimmed past a knot of fighting, checked to make sure nobody was hiding amongst the overturned chairs, moved his gaze back to the wall - and  _ there _ . A masked ninja stood motionless, mask turning slowly as the enemy ninja scanned the room for his next target. 

“Remember, don’t engage unless it’s in defense” Choza had noticed the ninja, as well. 

Inoichi stirred, then rubbed his eyes. How long had it been since the Yamanaka had started his jutsu? It had felt like hours, as though Inoichi was relaying an epic saga.  _ They say your sense of time gets distorted in a fight, how long had it truly been? Five minutes? Ten? _

Sasuke shook away the distraction.

“Thank you, old friend.” Inoichi reached out to touch a dent in Choza’s armor. “Do you need a break?”

Choza let out a booming laugh. “Now that you’re done, let’s take this outside.”

Then the ceiling began to collapse - a giant had tree burst through the ceiling!

And there was Danzo, grasping the shattered remnants of his sharingan arm, just as Sasuke had dreamt. 

In one of those odd moments of stillness that sometimes graces a battlefield, Danzo faced his remaining opponents.

“Danzo,” the Hokage leaned on a staff he’d gotten somehow “it’s over. Give up this madness.”

“And what happens then, Hiruzen? You put me on trial?” Danzo stood proud in his defeat.

“Everything I have done, I have done for the sake of the village. You and your soft ways have weakened us all.”

“Is this what you call strength?” the Hokage took in the chaos around them. “No, Danzo. In your arrogance you have forgotten what truly makes us strong.”

“The Will of Fire?” Danzo sneered. “Leave the inspiring speeches for the fools who need it. Discipline, obedience, and loyalty - that is what makes a shinobi strong.”

“Surrender, Danzo!”

It was a tiny motion, so small Sasuke barely even noticed it. Danzo moved his jaw, as though biting down on something…

And then collapsed.

The white-haired man cautiously approached the body. When nothing happened, he knelt down to investigate. “A poison capsule,” he grimly reported. 

The Hokage let out a sigh. “Is this what you consider loyalty, Danzo?” he murmured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fairly short chapter, but it wrapped up the action.
> 
> The next few chapters will be dealing with the aftermath.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath

It gradually dawned on Sasuke that it was quiet - not just inside the council chamber, but outside as well. A glance out the hole in the wall showed a couple of masked ninjas standing still, hands raised in surrender.

The Hokage surveyed the aftermath of the fight grimly. “Shikaku, form patrols to secure the rest of the village. Those of you who need medical treatment and can walk, start walking to the hospital. Squirrel, Ferret, escort them and make sure nobody bothers them.” Two masked Anbu saluted the Hokage and moved towards the column of injured ninjas beginning to form. “Anyone able-bodied, start treating the rest. Inoichi, you know what to do.”

“Have you had the first aid class yet, Sasuke?” Choza asked as Inoichi yet again prepared to practice his mind techniques.

Sasuke frowned slightly. “We covered the basics.”

“Work with me, we’ll start by checking for responsiveness. If they’re alert and aware then we already know they’re able to breathe, and may even be able to tell us what’s wrong. You still have to check for signs of bleeding and broken bones. If they don’t respond, check for breathing first… We’ll work together until Inoichi is done. Remember, use their own first aid kits if at all possible.”

Inoichi stopped paying attention to the conversation as he focused on performing his jutsu for a second time that day. Doing so, especially without the usual equipment, was exhausting but necessary.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, noting the mental signatures of Konoha ninjas throughout the village.

_ Interesting _ , he thought to himself. One particular signature kept cropping up repeatedly. Some sort of clone jutsu? His eyes narrowed as he focused on that particular presence -  _ Naruto?!?  _

He reached out to the closest one. 

_ Naruto, report! _

The clone came to a surprised halt. “Who’s there?”

Inoichi stifled his amusement.  _ Inoichi Yamanaka, Ino’s father. I’m using a mind jutsu to check on the village. Why do you have so many clones headed towards the village center? _

The clone’s eyes widened. Was this how Iruka had known something was wrong? “The Academy! It’s under attack!” Remembering Iruka’s instruction on how to give a report, he quickly continued. “There were at least five masked ninjas, and probably more inside! And, and… “  _ What was it Iruka had said? Oh, right…  _ “I saw them about ten minutes ago. Iruka told me to make as many clones as I could and try to get help.”

Inoichi’s brow furrowed.  _ Wait while I check on things. _

He shifted his focus to the Academy, and felt a rush of relief as he saw that everything was under control. He had a quick word with the ninjas there, and told Naruto to go ahead and dispel his clones. All but the one he first contacted, that is.

Returning to the first clone, he reassured him that everything was fine and asked him to report to Shikaku. 

Exhaustion hit him as he finished checking on the rest of the village, but he wasn’t ready to end his jutsu just yet. Not without checking on -  _ there! _

_ Ino! _

_ Dad? _ His young daughter turned, as though she could see through the walls to where her father was using his jutsu.  _ Is everything okay? Sakura, and Shino! Are they okay? _

_ Everyone is fine _ , Inoichi reassured her.  _ Sakura and Shino are safe and sound at the Academy. _ He could sense her worry through the connection, and let a bit of his relief seep through.

Ino relaxed in turn.  _ Good!  _ She sent back. She knew the jutsu her father was using was a tiring technique, but she was grateful for the news - any news, really. 

_ I won’t be home until late, but everything is okay _ , Inoichi reiterated.

_ I understand. You feel exhausted, Dad. We’ll talk later. _

Inoichi sent a warm feeling, the mental equivalent of a hug, to his daughter and dropped the jutsu. After reporting to the Hokage, and Shikaku, he joined Choza and Sasuke at assessing and treating the injured.

“Oi, Sasuke!” the Naruto-clone waved as he entered the room, his manner unusually subdued as he took in the destruction.

Sasuke grunted as he finished tying off a bandage on yet another injured ninja. “Naruto, what are you doing here?” He said the words more out of habit than any real curiosity. It had been a long and tiring day, and he just didn’t have the energy for more.

“Oh, I’m just a clone, the Academy was attacked, I’m supposed to report the details to a - “ Naruto’s face wrinkled as he tried to remember “ a - Shikaku?”

“Ah, Naruto,” Inoichi gave a pleasant, if tired, greeting. “Yes, Shikaku. He’s right over there.”

Naruto gaped at Inoichi. “You were the guy in my head!”

‘Yes, I thought Shikaku should hear about the attack firsthand. Go on, then.” Inoichi waved Naruto onwards.

The clone gave them a wave and moved on. He waited a few minutes as Shikaku finished issuing yet another set of orders, then gave his report.

“The Academy, huh.” Shikaku rubbed a hand over his face as he thought through the implications. “He was probably targeting the children of the clan heads.” He didn’t want to think of how the fight would have gone if Danzo was holding their children hostage. He couldn’t even begin to express his relief that it hadn’t come to that.

The clone’s face scrunched up. “But, but… but the guys that attacked Iruka-sensei and me said  _ I _ was a target! Why would I be a target?”

A hand fell on the clone’s shoulder as Jiraiya joined them. “Eh?!? Ero-sennin?” The clone gave Jiraiya a confused look.

“I think this is something we should tell Naruto directly. We’ll explain everything when he gets here. Go ahead and disperse.” 

“But - how - how will he know?”

A small chuckle lightened the serious look on Jiraiya’s face. “Go ahead and disperse, brat. You’ll see.”

The clone still had a confused look on his face as he put his hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  
  


********************************************************************

Back at the Academy, Naruto stiffened in surprise.

“What is it, Naruto” Iruka asked.

“I need to go see Ero-sennin. How did I know that… my clone?...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kind comments! I was rather busy yesterday, and am going to be busy tomorrow, so I haven't tried responding to them individually. I figured I had the choice of trying to do that today, or write another chapter, and decided to write another chapter.
> 
> It's mostly just tidying up some things and setting up a few minor things for the plot, but I also wanted to show what probably happens after a big fight like this. Taking care of everything after the big ol' crazy fight isn't exactly exciting storytelling or glamorous ninja activity, but it's the sort of thing that has to be done.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke prepares for the next step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be really, really short. Mostly because it just doesn't feel right to put the next scene in the same chapter.
> 
> Also - I was going to write about when Naruto got told about the Nine Tails, but tbh I probably ought to have put that at the end of the last chapter... and it's not really much different from canon. Well... if you combined Jiraiya telling him Akatsuki was after him with Mitsuki's big reveal (just less dramatic).
> 
> He gets reassured that he's not the Fox, realizes he's a target, and is determined to get stronger as fast as possible so he can handle that.

Dealing with the aftermath of Danzo’s attempted coup kept Sasuke too busy to think. When he finally made it home, he was so exhausted he barely managed to take his shoes off before falling asleep.

The damage to the Academy - and village - meant school had been cancelled the following day, so Sasuke finally had time to think about everything that had happened.

His dream had raised a lot of questions - about Itachi, his clan, and the village - and he was done pushing them aside. 

Shikaku must have been right, when he said the dream was of  _ a _ future. After all, Danzo was dead. There was no way he would fight the man the way he’d dreamt. Still, the intelligence in his dream had been proven twice over now. First with Kakashi, and now with Danzo.

Did the village elders really order Itachi to kill the clan? Why? And why would Itachi  _ agree _ ?

Sasuke went about cleaning his house with a grim look out of keeping with the ordinary activity. Getting answers was going to be hard - maybe even harder than bringing Danzo to account.

He’d been too focused on helping the injured to really think about it yesterday, but the elders - Utatane and Mitokado - had been seriously injured in the fight. They had been some of the first to be treated by the medics when they finally arrived, and from what Inoichi had said the odds that they’d survive were not good.

Were they the ‘elders’ mentioned in his dream? If so, and with Danzo dead, only the Hokage and Itachi were left to give him answers.

He wasn’t sure he was ready to hear those answers, wasn’t sure what he would do if this, too, was true. He was almost -  _ almost _ \- tempted to forget the whole thing, especially after seeing what could happen when a village fought against itself.

But he had never been one to give up or back down, and he was determined to follow through. 

No matter where that led him.

Decision made, he prepared himself for the next step with the same grim determination he’d prepare for a war, albeit war of a different kind. He put on his best clothes, made sure the Uchiha symbol was proudly displayed on the back of his shirt, brushed his hair and took one last glance in the mirror before heading to the Hokage’s office.

He knew the Hokage would be too busy to see him today. Would probably be too busy to see him for a week, if he was honest with himself. But this would be the first move in his next campaign, and he planned to look the part when he put in his request - as the Uchiha Clan Head - to meet with the Hokage. 


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the fallout

Whoever had rebuilt the Academy had done a good job. Sasuke couldn’t even tell that there had been a hole in the wall. He supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised - they had spent the last couple of days working in small groups to help rebuild the village, and apparently ninja villages are experts at fixing the damage their jutsus caused.

He went to sit at his usual spot, and internally winced when he heard a shriek.

“Saaasuuuukeeee-kuuuuun!” 

Two of the girls shrieked upon seeing him. “We heard you were at the center of everything!”

“Did you kill Danzo?” 

“You’re so strong! I wish we could have seen you!”

Sasuke tried his best to ignore the shrieking. It was almost as bad as his first day back after  _ that night _ . 

He didn’t know how to deal with this. The girls had so many misconceptions he didn’t even know where to start, and the last thing he wanted to do was explain how they were wrong. Educating them would require  _ talking _ about it.

“Hey, knock it off!” Ino stormed up to the girls, Sakura by her side.  _ When did that happen? _ Sasuke wondered.

The girls took one look at Ino and Sakura, and paled. “We-we were just talking, Ino!”

“Yeah, well, go talk somewhere else!”

“Su-sure thing Ino!” 

Sasuke turned to stare at his most unlikely of saviors.

Ino gave him a weak smile. “Sorry about that, Sasuke.”

Sakura glared as the girls joined another group and started whispering in a corner. 

_ What just happened? _ Sasuke wondered.

“The class saw us take down Mizuki,” a voice drawled out. “And even though Ino led them to the emergency shelter, they knew the rest of us were caught in the fight.” Shikamaru wandered up to them. “They’ve got the strangest ideas about what happened, and… well.” He frowned at the gaggle of girls. “Rumors are flying.” 

Sakura turned to Sasuke and bit her lip. “It’s like they think we’re figures from a storybook or something. And… “ she pulled herself up and gave a deep bow. “I’m sorry, Sasuke.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened.

“I- I don’t feel like we did anything special, not really. Most of the time I was scared out of my mind… “

“I never realized how  _ annoying _ those - those - “ Ino struggled to find an adjective scathing enough.

“Children,” Shikamaru interjected, taking a seat next to Sasuke. “It’s like they’re still children.” Unspoken went the implication that, after what they had seen, they were  _ not _ .

Ino took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Yeah. Just… children.” 

The rest of the day seemed just as strange to Sasuke. Those who were involved in the fighting - even Ino, who was involved in standing up to their teacher, and took charge of the rest of the class afterwards - were drawn to the only other students who understood.

The changes became more obvious as the week worse on. Seating arrangements changed, all nine children clustering together and forming a silent wall between themselves and the rest of the class. Naruto was still his boisterous self, but somehow he got a smile or a nod where before he’d been met with open derision.

And strange though it was, Sasuke found himself appreciating the changes. After meeting Shikaku, he could now see the sharp mind that lay underneath Shikamaru’s exterior. Could appreciate the quiet confidence in Shino, who apparently took out ten of the enemy ninjas with his bugs. 

And Ino - well. With Inoichi as her father, it was no surprise that she knew almost everything that was going on in the village.

She’s the one who quietly explained that Mizuki - who hadn’t returned to the Academy after the attempted coup - had apparently failed his security interview. That the Hokage was leading the effort to uncover just how Danzo had managed to build up a private army, and in the process they were investigating just about everyone.

She also seemed to have a good idea of who would be nominated to be a new village elder, since Mitokado had died of his wounds and Utatane was in a coma.

He was still anxiously awaiting word on when he could meet with the Hokage, but from what Ino said it was no surprise that he hadn’t heard anything yet. 

That all changed a couple of days later, when Ino came in with a worried look on her face.

“Did you hear?” she sat down next to Sakura, and spoke just loud enough for the nine of them to listen in.

“The Hokage collapsed last night! They say the stress got to him!”

“No!” Sakura gave a shocked whisper. “The Hokage?”

Sasuke tried to shake off his growing worry as he quietly listened in. Had he taken too long to ask his questions? Should he have insisted on meeting sooner? 

If the Hokage… If he couldn’t get answers from the Hokage, how was he ever going to find out the truth?


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The limbo world of waiting.

The following month was agonizing. The Hokage’s illness left Sasuke in limbo - uncertain whether he should start making plans on the assumption that the Hokage would never recover (which left - what? Asking Itachi for the truth?) or stick with his original plan. If the Hokage  _ did _ recover, he’d be able to ask him, right?

The uncertainty was paralyzing, and it ate away at his concentration.  _ Maybe I should… But what if… Just wait… But!  _

The thoughts circled around endlessly, and anything that shut off the flow and kept him busy was a reprieve.

He was so caught up in his own problems that it took a few days before he noticed that Naruto was missing.

Upon questioning, Iruka-sensei just said that Naruto had been excused. Something about a great learning opportunity with Jiraiya-sama? He hadn’t even realized Naruto knew Jiraiya. He’d only recently learned who Jiraiya was himself, though given he was the white-haired man who helped fight Danzo he knew the shinobi was strong. Why would such a powerful ninja be interested in Naruto?

Well, whatever. At least he learned that Naruto was expected to come back in a month or so.

He’d tried to visit the Hokage - to do anything, really, to get out of the limbo of uncertainty. He found out that the Hokage had a private room at the hospital, but no one except family was allowed to see him. 

And so the days went. He studied, and trained, and waited for word while the Hokage’s health continued to remain poor.

Every day was the same…

Until it wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, mostly because the rest of it (publishing immediately after this one) felt better all by itself. I can tell from the comments that where I'm going with this is not where anyone else really expected, so idk. I think it fits together with the themes I've been developing, read the next chapter and tell me what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke gets the meeting he requested.

The first sign, though Sasuke didn’t realize it then, was when an excited Naruto returned to school, crowing about some new summoning jutsu.

Then Ino came to school practically quivering with excitement, talking about the ‘return of Tsunade-sama’. Some great medic or something, and one of Jiraiya’s team members?

Still, the mention of her great healing powers made Sasuke take note. If she was as good as they say, it made sense that she’d be asked to take a look at the Hokage. And maybe… just maybe…

His speculation finally ended when the Office of the Hokage sent a notice that his meeting request had been granted.

He was eventually brought to that private hospital room, where a commanding woman with blonde-hair and a purple diamond on her forehead warned him that the Hokage was still in bad shape and that his time was limited.

A fierce determination filled Sasuke as he entered the room.

A determination that foundered at the sight of the Hokage - old and frail looking where he lay in the hospital bed.

The Hokage had been the leader of the village for as long as Sasuke remembered. A pillar of strength and confidence. Old, yes, but still hale.

This - this was a wreck. The Hokage looked as though he had aged twenty years, and he had not been young to begin with.

Sasuke paused a moment. 

“Ah, Sasuke” the Hokage weakly raised a hand in greeting. “Come in, come in. You wanted to meet with me?”

He firmed his resolve. He had almost lost the chance to ask, had keenly regretted the missed opportunity, and he wasn’t about to lose his chance now.

“Hokage-sama,” he gave a polite nod as he took a seat near the hospital bed. “I hope you are feeling well.”

Sasuke saw a glimpse of steel underneath as the Hokage replied. “I have lived a long life. Longer than I had any right to expect. I will probably never recover completely. Tsunade, no matter how great a medic, does not have a cure for old age.” The old man smiled slightly, as though he had made peace with his fate.

“Right now I am putting my affairs in order as gracefully as I can. It is time for the next generation to lead.” He continued more softly, as though to himself, “hopefully they can do better.”

It was now or never. Sasuke inhaled, and took the plunge. 

“Is it true, that Itachi slaughtered the clan on Konoha’s orders?”

The Hokage’s face went still, and he closed his eyes in resignation. “I had wondered… “ He opened his eyes and fixed Sasuke with a troubled expression.

“When Shikaku told me how they had come to suspect Danzo, told me about your dreams… I had wondered if there was more to it.

“I had also hoped that it was just a dream, but that was proven wrong with Danzo.” Mentioning Danzo seemed to take something out of the Hokage. “Danzo… I wonder when he began to go wrong.”

The Hokage’s reaction was indicative, but not a clear answer. A pit opened in Sasuke’s stomach. 

“Was Itachi ordered to do it?” he insisted.

The Hokage appeared to wage a silent war with himself, struggling to decide how to answer. What to answer. Finally, he seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. 

“Yes,” he gave Sasuke the courtesy of looking him in the eye as he dropped the bombshell. “Yes.”

“Why?” Sasuke felt himself breaking apart. Crumbling. Why was Itachi ordered to do it? Why did he agree? Why leave Sasuke in the village that ordered him to do that?… Why lie to him? Why… ? Why.. ?

The Hokage coughed slightly. “It was a failure on my part,” he half whispered. “Perhaps my biggest failure as Hokage.”

“What. Happened.” Sasuke demanded. “I want to know Every. Thing.”

“Everything?” the Hokage seemed to gaze at a past only he could see.

“Where did it start? That’s a tough question. It’s like asking when Danzo began to go wrong.”

_ Danzo? _ What did Danzo have to do with this?

The Hokage gave another cough. “Perhaps it all started with the day the Nine-Tails attacked. Yes, looking back, a great many things went wrong then.”

He reached out with a weak and trembling hand to grab a glass of water, and took a sip.

“A lot was lost that day,” he sighed. “My wife, Biwako - in all the other losses that day, people tend to forget her. She was a strong ninja, and I still miss her dearly.” The Hokage lapsed into a private grief.

He stirred before Sasuke could prod for more. “And, of course, we also lost Minato. The Fourth Hokage.” He sighed.

“I had retired once before. Had handed the Hokage hat on to the next generation. I was supposed to be spending time with my family - my wife. My children. Eventually my grandchildren. Instead, I found myself taking up the hat again. Nobody else was ready for it, and we couldn’t afford any weakness.”

“Danzo… “

“I thought we worked well together, during my first reign. His realism grounded my idealism. We both had learned from the Senju brothers, but I had seen the Senju make a village with their worst enemies, and was willing to take risks on our enemies if it would bring peace. Danzo, on the other hand, insisted on safeguards and countermeasures in case things went wrong. Together, we led the village through the Third Shinobi War… “

“I thought I knew him. I thought… “ the Hokage was interrupted by a fit of coughing. “I thought, bastard though he was, that he always worked for the good of the village.”

Fascinating though all this was, Sasuke did not quite see the connection between the Hokage’s ramblings and the Uchiha massacre. “What’s that got to do with the Uchiha?” he prodded.

“Rumors flew after the Nine-Tails attacked,” the Hokage grimly answered. “Some people claimed they saw a sharingan in the fox’s eyes.”

Sasuke inhaled sharply. 

The Hokage nodded. “Everyone knew the Uchiha could control the Tailed Beasts with their sharingan, and suspicion grew. The Uchiha clan compound was relocated to a more isolated location.

“Tensions rose, and eventually the Uchiha started planning a coup.”

Things started to click into place as Sasuke recalled the tension he had noticed in the months leading up to the massacre. He had been a child, he hadn’t known what it all meant, but he had noticed that things were - off. That his father had been unusually insistent on Itachi attending clan meetings. That there had been strange looks whenever he went with his mother on shopping trips. He remembered hushed whispers and angry mutterings, though he hadn’t known why.

“Itachi was caught in the middle,” the Hokage continued. “He didn’t want a coup, and was torn between his clan and his village. We were looking for some sort of solution. I had hoped… “

He lapsed into a silence, again. Then gave another weak cough and continued.

“Danzo talked to Itachi without my knowledge. By the time I knew of it, the Uchiha were dead and Itachi was planning to go missing-nin. He still wanted to help the village, and offered to go undercover in a very dangerous organization. Sasuke… “

The Hokage fixed him with an unreadable expression. “The Uchiha were already dead, and I couldn’t bring them back. I had to think about what was best for the village.”

  
“You covered it up,” Sasuke accused.

“I covered it up,” the Hokage confirmed. “Oh, there were consequences. I forced Danzo to resign for his part in things. But anything more would have raised… questions.” Then he sighed. “Given what Danzo did, it wasn’t near enough. I should have kept a closer eye on him.”

Sasuke didn’t know what to say to that. It was true, of course it was, but it didn’t do anything to change the fact that his clan was  _ dead _ . 

He opened his mouth to say something, he didn’t know what, when the door opened and the medic entered.

“All right, that’s enough. He gets tired very easily.” 

Sasuke wasn’t ready… not by a long shot. He still had so many questions. He blurted out the most important one as he stood up to leave.

“How does he report to you?” 

The Hokage gave him a knowing look. “It’s too dangerous for me to contact him - you never know when the wrong person might see something suspicious, and he ‘s surrounded by very dangerous people.”

He began coughing again, motioning for Sasuke to wait. “He uses a dead drop, an agent of ours collects his reports and sends them on. Ask Jiraiya about his spice merchant.”

The medic moved forward, hands beginning to glow green, as the Hokage started coughing again.

  
  


********************************************************************

Fury grew as Sasuke walked through the village. It spread through him, consumed him. His hands felt strong. Powerful. Like he could rip apart a wall with the sheer force of his rage.

The ghost of maniacal laughter whispered in his head and he wondered if this,  _ this _ is what he had learned that made his dream self react so.

How could everyone act so normal, when the village did something like this?

He was more angry than he had ever been, except…

Except he had no target for his rage. 

Danzo? Dead. A death that was better than he deserved, by far, but still dead.

The elders? Dead or in a coma.

The Hokage?  _ Dying _ , his mind whispered.

The village? Inoichi, Iruka-sensei.. Choza, Shikaku. Hiashi. They would probably be horrified to know the truth, look at how they stood up to Danzo. How could he blame them for a decision made without their knowledge?

  
  


Itachi? He’d already made Itachi the target for most of his rage, and apparently it was undeserved.

His own clan? He had seen the devastation Danzo’s coup attempt had caused, how bad would an Uchiha attempt have been? 

Dead. All dead.

Every single person he could think of to blame were either dead, dying, or… well, Itachi.

Somehow, he didn’t recall how or when, he found himself sitting on a familiar pier, looking out at the Uchiha lake.

He sightlessly stared at the lake where he’d practiced his fire jutsu over and over again, hoping for his father’s acknowledgement.

What was he supposed to do now? How could he continue to live in the village that had killed his entire clan? And yet - how could he blame the entire village for the actions of a few? 

He had no idea how long he stayed there, gazing mindlessly out. He vaguely heard Naruto yelling “Sasuke! Hey, Sasuke!”, though he didn’t even turn his head at the noise.

Next thing he knew, Naruto was plopping down next to him. He had obviously picked up on  _ something _ as he gave Sasuke a sideways glance.

“Hey, Sasuke” Naruto’s voice was unusually subdued, lacking much of his normal boisterousness. “What’s wrong?”

Sasuke didn’t even know where to start. How did he tell Naruto - Naruto, who loudly proclaimed he was going to be Hokage - that the village he loved had such a dark secret? Why did Naruto want to be Hokage so badly, anyway? He had seen how most of the adults treated him…

“Hey, Naruto?” Naruto tilted his head to listen 

“How can you care about the village so much? I’ve seen how you’re treated… “ putting that into words was strange, he’d never openly acknowledged it before. But if he didn’t, he was sure Naruto would give him some over-excited answer about being the strongest or something.

“Ummmm, well.” His hand reached down to touch his stomach, for some reason. “I learned something recently, an explanation. And, like, it doesn’t make anything right, or make it hurt any less, so I don’t know that it really makes a difference… “

Sasuke stared. There was something in Naruto’s face, something almost like - understanding?

Naruto’s face screwed up as he thought. “I mean, I could sit at home and think about how awful everything is, but, you know… “

“I realized along time ago that… that… “ he struggled to put his thoughts into words. “I realized that letting myself think about things like that was almost like letting  _ them _ win. Like, like I was letting them rent out space in my head, you know?”

“Thinking about that sort of thing, thinking about what other people did or didn’t do, it meant I was wasting time on  _ them _ . It gives them power over me. 

“Letting myself really enjoy the little things? It’s like… victory. I won’t let anyone keep me from, from, from enjoying a nice bowl of ramen. Or a good sunset. I won’t let thoughts of that keep me from enjoying  _ life _ .”

“So you just… don’t let it bother you?”

“No, no” Naruto laughed. “I’m going to be Hokage, believe it! It’s not that I don’t let it bother me, it’s more like… I’m going to do everything I can, you know. Train harder, become stronger, do better. And if I don’t like what other people have done I’ll do better. But, like… I focus on doing what I can, where I can. 

“And what other people think or do? I’ll deal with it if and when I have to, but otherwise? Why let them live in my head rent-free?”

That was - surprisingly sophisticated for Naruto.. And a lot to unpack. Sasuke wasn’t sure it was a good answer, wasn’t sure it changed anything, But for tonight, this evening, maybe it was enough.

He stopped dwelling on that fountain of anger, though he could still feel it bubbling away beneath the surface, and stood up.

Turning to Naruto, he held out a hand. “Come on, moron. Let’s go get some ramen.”

Naruto broke out into a brilliant smile as he let Sasuke help him stand. “Yeah! Ramen!”


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More questions, a few conclusions, and perhaps the beginning of a plan.

Sasuke tried to take Naruto’s advice, tried to enjoy the simple things in life - like tomatoes, or a perfect throw - and sometimes it even worked.

And then there were the times, most often at night as he lay in bed, where he wondered what he was doing.

How could he stay here, in the village that killed his entire clan?

He was beginning to get used to the way thoughts circled endlessly. It never was comfortable, of course, but it was beginning to be familiar. 

After all, was it truly the village that killed his clan? Was the Hokage and the Elders the village? 

What about people like Inoichi? Shikaku? He knew they would be horrified if they knew. Could he really blame him, and the rest of the village?

What would he do about it, anyway?

Occasionally, he wondered about other things. Sure, the village ordered Itachi to kill everyone, but why did he  _ agree _ ? 

Despite the answers he’d already found, he still had questions. After all, practically everything Itachi had said to him that night had to be a lie. Or was it? What about his claim that if he gained the Mangekyou  _ three _ of the clan would have it?

Then there was Naruto’s second bit of advice. Focus on doing what he can, where he can.

What, ultimately, led to the downfall of his clan? Was it a war-hawk run amok? A weak hokage who failed to rein him in?

What could he do about it. Not Danzo or the Hokage, but to prevent anyone else from doing something similar in the future?

That was the one thing he found he really held against the Hokage…

The decision to cover up the massacre meant nothing was  _ really _ done to prevent another one. He couldn’t help feeling that the Hokage, no matter how much he claimed otherwise, had done it more to keep his position than for the good of the village.

From all his questioning, all his uncertainty, he finally came to a few conclusions.

He needed to talk to Itachi.

That was, of course, easier said than done. He had known, much though it galled him, that he was too weak to fight his brother… back when he planned on killing him, that is.

But even though that had changed, meeting Itachi would probably be just as tough. Especially if whatever organization he had joined was as dangerous as the Hokage had said.

Which meant he still had to train hard and grow stronger, if only to make sure he could survive  _ when _ he met his brother.

At least the Hokage had given him a clue (though it made it harder to hate the man, and Sasuke found he resented the help almost as much as he was grateful for it.) 

Jiraiya. He’d started paying more attention to the Sannin after the fight with Danzo, though he still couldn’t believe the powerful ninja was the same man Naruto called ‘Ero-sennin’. 

From what he’d pieced together, Jiraiya was something of a spy master. Perhaps, if he learned from him, he could find out who the spice merchant was? He wasn’t sure how much that would help, given the Hokage had said he just checked a dead drop. That meant the merchant probably didn’t have any contact with Itachi directly, didn’t even know who was leaving him information in the first place.

But…

It would give him a location. A place Itachi was likely to visit.

As for the rest of it, he’d bide his time. He could be patient when he had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have as clear an idea of where I want this story to go as I did for all the previous writing, so updates may slow down a bit.
> 
> I've been thinking about how my changes will impact some of the larger canon plot - like Itachi, and Orochimaru - and I'm beginning to get some ideas, so we'll see. :)


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke receives some good news.

The weather must have missed the memo telling it that a funeral was scheduled for today. Elder Mitokado was finally being put to rest, and the day was sunny and clear.

Sasuke had hardly known the man, and what he did know he didn’t like. Still, it seemed fitting - he was at least partly responsible for the death of his clan, and it felt as though through his presence, his family could witness his final end.

He gave a small nod to Inoichi as they gathered for the service. Most of the clan heads were there, as well as other key figures on the village council. Aside from that, though, there was just a scattering of grey heads from those in his generation who managed to survive this long.

Sasuke absently watched a bee buzz around the flowers as the speaker droned on about Mitokado’s life. 

When it was done, he found himself walking alongside Inoichi, Choza, and Shikaku as the crowd dispersed.

“Perhaps it’s for the best,” Inoichi quietly commented, making sure his voice didn’t carry.

At Sasuke’s questioning look, Shikaku elaborated.

“Danzo’s actions raise a lot of questions about the leadership of this village. If the Hokage - and the elders - hadn’t fought so hard against Danzo, and if they weren’t injured in the process, there would have been quite a bit of political fallout.”

“And other villages are always watching. They might have tried something if they’d sensed weakness on our part” Choza added.

“New leadership and a fresh start may be just what we need.”

“Speaking of fresh starts - it’s almost time for your class to graduate, isn’t it Sasuke?”

Sasuke sensed there were deeper issues underlying their comments on leadership, but the clan heads clearly didn’t want to discuss it in such a public location.

“The exam is in two weeks.”

Shikaku gave gravely hum. “I wouldn’t worry too much about the exams, Sasuke.”

“Why?” Sasuke halted in confusion.

Inoichi laughed. “You’ll see.” Waving farewell, they parted ways.

********************************************************************

It wasn’t long before Sasuke learned what the clan heads had been talking about. 

Nine students were asked to remain after class one day, and it didn’t take a genius to realize all nine of them had been involved in the fight against Danzo.

“Neh, neh! Iruka-sensei! What’s going on?” Naruto demanded, practically quivering with excitement.

“That’s what I’m about to tell you, Naruto. As soon as you take your seat.” Underneath the stern command, Iruka exuded a sense of quiet pride.

“We’ve reviewed your actions during Danzo’s attack, and have decided that you all showed that you have the skills to become genin.”

“All of us? But… I hardly fought?” Ino questioned.

“You took charge of the rest of the class and got them to shelter,” Shikamaru lazily drawled. “Being a ninja is about more than just fighting.”

He carefully didn’t comment on  _ why _ she had to take charge. Although they all felt they had done what they had to do, overcoming their teacher was still something they were uncomfortable with.

Iruka nodded. “Exactly, Shikamaru. You all chose to take action instead of passively waiting, and when the time came you all did your part. And getting civilians to shelter is an important part, even if you didn’t fight.”

“They had to recognize how awesome we are!” Naruto crowed.

“Yeah!” Kiba shouted, Akamaru barking his agreement.

“But… what does it mean?” Sakura wondered.

“It means that you have all been given a field promotion to genin.”

“A field promotion? Then- the exam?”

“You don’t have to take the exam.”

Iruka waited for the excitement to die down before continuing.

“Meet here tomorrow after class for your team assignments. For now - “ he performed a quick jutsu, and nine hitai-ate lay gleaming on his desk.

“Congratulations. I’m sure we’ll see great things out of all of you.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Assignments!

Sasuke tied his new hitai-ate around his forehead, grabbed his new book -  _ Small Unit Tactics _ , a graduation gift from Inoichi - and headed out the door.

He had his suspicions about who would be on his team. Sure, his dream was probably not  _ the _ future. At least, not anymore. Still, if he would have been on a team with Naruto, Sakura, and Hatake-san before, there was probably no reason for that to change.

He didn’t think.

He found himself actually okay with that. 

Naruto had improved significantly since they had started to train together. And if he were honest with himself, now that Naruto knew the Shadow Clone technique he even managed to be a challenge. His style was still not nearly as smooth and polished as Sasuke’s, but he made up for it with an unbelievable amount of stamina, large quantities of bodies, and pure chaos.

He supposed he would have found that disturbing, back when he felt he had to be the strongest. But… he was beginning to see that there was more than one way to be strong. Danzo, for all of his sharingan arm, had still been defeated. True, it was a closer fight than Sasuke wanted to admit, and he wasn’t sure what would have happened if Danzo’s forces had captured the clan heirs… or even managed to reach Danzo in the fight.

But perhaps there was a reason for that. Perhaps strength lies in more than just superior fighting skills and powerful ninjutsu.

He attributed his strange thoughts to Inoichi’s gift. It’s not easy to come up with standardized tactics for ninja teams - not when their jutsus and skills can vary so greatly. But Tobirama - the Second Hokage - had done his best to categorize them and offer advice on how best to use them. Long range or short range, precision attacks or wide area attacks, attacks that disrupt the senses vs. straight up taijutsu, scouting, tracking, communication, and more. There was much more to it than the basics they had covered in the Academy.

This is what Inoichi had been talking about, when he’d talked about how well the Ino-Shika-Cho team worked. After seeing their skills in action, Sasuke could see what he meant. If you needed a team to capture and interrogate someone in the field, Choza would be the muscle, Shikaku capture (and strategize), and Inoichi could do the field interrogation. If they did it well enough, the enemy might not even realize what had happened. If not, well… Choza would help make sure they made it out alive.

Sasuke turned his thoughts to his own team. Or, well, possible team. He was fairly familiar with Naruto’s skills and could see a number of different ways where they could work together. 

He wasn’t as sure about Sakura. Or rather, he had overheard her talking to Ino about some sort of training program an ‘Anko’ had given her, and he wasn’t sure what the special jounin had been teaching her. Still, she had grown more tolerable since the Danzo Incident, and he found he was okay with it if she really was his teammate.

“Sasuke! Sasuke!” Naruto interrupted his musing, running to catch up to him.

“Aren’t you excited? I wonder who’s going to be on my team?” 

Naruto didn’t even wait for Sasuke to answer, but his breathless chatter was almost soothing as Sasuke quietly walked beside him.

Naruto waved happily at Shino, who was arriving at the Academy around the same time. 

Giving a nod of greeting, Shino led the way through familiar halls to their classroom. 

Almost everyone was there, each showing their excitement in their own way. In the corner, Sakura was huddled with Ino, talking enthusiastically about something and showing off a red trenchcoat that she was wearing over a dark tunic and white capri pants.

Sasuke sat and let their voices wash over him.

It wasn’t long before Iruka-sensei called the classroom to order. He went through what sounded like a set speech on what it meant to be a genin, and how proud he was of them. Then he finally got down to business. 

“We created the team assignments for the entire class, assuming they graduate. For you nine, the first team is Team Seven - Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha.” 

“YES!” Naruto thrust a fist in the air. Sakura grinned and stuck her tongue out at Ino, who rolled her eyes in return.

Iruka gave Naruto a stern glare and continued. “Your teacher will be Kakashi Hatake.” He gave Sasuke a knowing look.

“Team Eight is Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka.” 

“All right!” Kiba shouted, Akamaru barked agreement and started wagging his tail.

“Your teacher is Kurenai Yuhi.”

“Ino-Shika-Cho,” Shikamaru grumbled, fooling nobody. “I knew it.”

“And Team 10,” Iruka continued “Choji Akamichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Your teacher will be Asuma Sarutobi.”

It wasn’t long before a bearded jonin and a kunoichi in a white dress led the other teams away, leaving Team Seven sitting in the classroom.

Iruka-sensei chatted comfortably with them for a while, before finally looking at his watch and sighing.

“I can’t stay any longer. Make sure to lock the door when you leave.”

There was a moment of silence before Naruto jumped up and started to make his way to the chalkboard. 

“What are you doing?” Sakura demanded.

“I’m going to prank him! Serves him right for being late!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Kakashi Hatake is one of the best ninjas in the village, Naruto. He won’t fall for one of your pranks.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. “You know who our sensei is?”

“By reputation,”  _ and his dream _ . “I haven’t been introduced.”

“Then that just means I have to come up with a really good prank.” Sasuke knew that look and knew he had to distract Naruto. And quick.”

“Or we could  _ not. _ There are better things we can do while we wait.”

“Like what?” Sakura seemed genuinely interested.

Sasuke’s eye fell on the book in his hand. 

“We could start discussing how we’re going to work together. You know - what our skills are, what our formations should be. That sort of thing.”

Naruto started drifting towards them, his prank forgotten.

“You mean like, like who should go first? And who should guard the rear?”

Sasuke nodded. “Not just in general, but for specific kinds of missions. The best person for each position can be different depending on the circumstances.”

“I - I mostly just know what we learned at the Academy,” Sakura blushed. “But - but I’ve been working hard at getting stronger! And Anko-senpai has been teaching me to throw senbon!”

“That’s good for precision strikes,” Sasuke nodded and pulled out his notebook. “And I know fire jutsu - that’s good for wide area attacks.”

“Oh, oh!” Naruto jumped up and down in excitement. “And I know Shadow Clone! And I can summon toads!”

“That’s great, Naruto, but what’s the best way of using them?” Sakura asked. Sasuke noted that her tone was far different from before the attack. She had softened towards him, at least a little bit, and even though he still annoyed her at times there was an underlayer of fondness - and perhaps even respect - that was new.

“Right. How would you use them on a scouting mission? And what would you do differently if it was an escort mission instead?”

Naruto screwed his face up in thought. “Weeellll - I can remember what my clones do, you know?”

“What!?!” Sakura gasped.

“Yeah, I learned during the Danzo Incident. Man, my clones were all over the place! And afterwards, I realized I remembered what each and every one of them had done.” He shook his head, as if to clear it.

“Ooooooooo, that would be useful in a scouting mission. Can you imagine?” Sakura leaned a little closer.

They were soon engrossed in their discussion, Sasuke using different pages on his notebook to mark out suggested formations for the different types of missions, and jotting down their thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each.

“Hmmm, interesting,” a low voice spoke. “And where would your jonin-sensei be?”

All three of them yelped as they noticed the white-haired ninja peering over Sasuke’s shoulder.

His eye - and they could only see one eye, as his hitai-ate was slanted to cover the other - turned up as though he were smiling. It was hard to tell for sure, since a mask covered the lower half of his face.

“Meet me on the top of the roof.” He gave a jaunty wave, then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

The remainder of Team 7 stared at each other for a second, then hastily scrambled for the door.

Eventually, all three of them made it to the roof, where their new sensei waited.

“Now, I’d like you all to tell us a little about yourselves,” he casually sat on the railing.

“Like what?” 

“You know. The usual. Your favorite thing… what you hate the most… dreams, ambitions, hobbies. Things like that.”

“Ehhh, why don’t you go first?” Naruto leaned forward, almost in a crouch. “Show us how it’s done.”

“That’s right.. After all, you’re a complete stranger to us.”

“Oh… me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business… But anyway, I have lots of hobbies.”

“Hey, he said a lot… “ Sakura whispered to her new teammates “but you told us more about him than he did himself.”

Sasuke grunted and Naruto nodded.

“Now it’s your turn,” Kakashi said. “And since you seem to know so much about me, why don’t we start with you in the middle.”

Sasuke folded his hands and gave a challenging stare. “My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate lies, bloodline theft, and cover ups. I don’t know about ‘dreams’, that’s just a word… but what I do have is determination. I plan to restore my clan, and something else I have sworn to do.”

Sakura blushed lightly as she gazed at Sasuke. While the Danzo Incident had changed her - she never wanted to feel as helpless as she had in the classroom that day - and she had come to realize that the things that what sounded dramatic and cool in a story was terrifying in real life, she still had a crush on him. 

“All right,” Kakashi looked unimpressed. “Next, on the right.”

“Me, right?” Naruto beamed. “My name is Naruto Uzumaki! What I like is instant cup ramen and training with Sasuke! What I like even better is when Iruka-sensei treats me to ramen at Ichiraku! What I hate is the three minute wait after I pour in the boiling water and anyone who attacks Iruka-sensei! And my dream is to one day…

Be Hokage!”

“My hobbies are… pranks and practical jokes I guess.” Naruto gave a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of his head.

“And finally, the young lady” Kakashi turned to Sakura.

“I am Sakura Haruno. My favorite things are reading and punching things... My dream is to become a strong kunoichi like Anko-senpai! I hate… I hate feeling weak and helpless. And my hobbies are training and throwing senbon.”

It was hard to tell what Kakashi made of all this. What they could see of his face almost looked bored, but that could just be his default expression.

“Enough.” He slouched against the rail. “I believe we all understand each other. Formal training begins tomorrow.”

“What will we be doing?” Sakura asked.

“Survival exercises.”

“WHA- ?” Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison as Sasuke crossed his arms and glared.

“You all may have been field-promoted to genin,” he continued “but that just shows that you have potential. You’ve all seen what real combat can look like, and you’re still here, but that doesn’t mean you’re ready to be a full ninja yet. We’ll meet tomorrow morning on the practice field so I can evaluate each of your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your ninja tools and weapons.”

“Oh, and don’t eat breakfast beforehand… unless you enjoy throwing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about changing team assignments. After all, it IS an AU...
> 
> But disregarding Iruka's claim that their policy was to put the best and worst together, I think the official teams make the most sense. Especially given what the Hokage said (I think it was in a filler episode? I mostly tried to avoid those, though I'd sometimes try watching the first episode of a filler arc to see if it seemed worth watching.) Anyways...
> 
> It makes sense to put people with good scouting abilities together (Team 8), and people with good capture and interrogation skills together (Team 10), and given that Sasuke was an Uchiha and Naruto was a jinchuriki, it also made sense to put the two of them together with Kakashi. 
> 
> I've been mulling over how I want to do this, and I think I've got a good outline in mind for now. I'll deal with some of the gaps when I get to those parts of the story.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bell test, revised.

Sasuke yawned as he finished tying on his hitai-ate and headed to the training ground. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and the streets were empty. That was okay, though. He was more than willing to get up early if it meant he would get stronger.

Sakura was already there when he arrived, wearing her new coat and rubbing tired eyes. Naruto showed up soon after, grumbling about the early morning.

They sat in companionable silence for about twenty minutes as they waited for their sensei.

Twenty minutes later, Naruto had woken up enough to break the silence. 

“Where  _ is  _ he?” 

“Ank- “ Sakura was interrupted by a yawn. “Anko-senpai said he was  _ always  _ late. What sort of jounin can’t be on time?”

“A strong one, apparently” Sasuke contributed. 

“Well, if he’s not here I’m going to catch up on some sleep.” Naruto declared. “Wake me up when he arrives.” He lay down and closed his eyes.

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances, but soon joined him.

A little while later, Naruto sat up. “I can’t do it! The ground is hard, and I’m starving!” He let out a growl of frustration.

Sakura sighed and moved into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her knees. “He said we’d be doing survival exercises, right? Didn’t we do enough of those at the Academy?”

“I dunno, maybe his are going to be harder… You said he was super strong, right Sasuke?”

“Hn”, Sasuke grunted as he gave up on trying to sleep.

They continued speculating on what they’d be doing, then went back to discussing their team formations.

“I’m telling you guys, summoning toads is awesome! They’re super useful!”

“Toads?” Sakura gave Naruto a skeptical look. “How much help can they be?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke added. “What are they going to do? Jump on a kunai?”

Naruto started laughing uncontrollably. Before he could tell them what was so funny, their sensei arrived. 

“YOU’RE LATE!!!” Sakura and Naruto yelled in unison.

“Well, you see. A black cat crossed my path, and I had to take the long way around.” 

Kakashi pulled out an alarm clock and set it on a tree stump.

“I’ve set this alarm to go off at noon,” he continued. “I have here two small bells… “ he pulled out a pair of bells dangling from some string. 

“Your challenge is to steal these from before the timer sounds. Anyone who fails… “ he paused dramatically. “Doesn’t get any lunch. Instead you will be tied to that tree stump, so I can eat your lunch in front of you.”

As if on cue, three stomachs grumbled. 

“Furthermore, although you all were field promoted to genin, that doesn’t mean that I have accepted you as  _ my _ students. You must get a bell in order for that to happen.

“But there are only two bells!” Sakura gasped.

“Yes. Normally when I give this test, the failures are sent back to the Academy. The rest of your class, if they graduate, are not true genin until they pass their jounin’s test. Since you all were all field promoted, that won’t happen here… but I am a very busy man and only have time to train two of you. That means one of you will definitely fail, and whoever that is will be sent to the general genin corps. If you are lucky, you might be able to find another jounin to take you on.”

Sasuke felt fear grip him at the thought of having to find another teacher, especially since he  _ knew _ Kakashi was one of the strongest jounin around. But.. 

Something felt off. In his dream, he had seen Kakashi with Sakura and Naruto. Sure, he was fighting them at the time… but there had been some sort of history there. As though they had all been on the same team. He was  _ sure _ all three of them trained under Kakashi.

His eyes narrowed in thought.

“You may, if you choose, use shuriken. Attack as though you mean to kill, or you’ll never stand a chance.”

All three of them remembered what they had seen during the Danzo Incident, and nodded grimly as they readied their weapons.

Kakashi looked at them and gave a small nod. “Now…”

“Ready… “

“Steady… “

“GO!!!”

Naruto started to put his hands together, but Sasuke grabbed him by the back of his jumpsuit and pulled. “Come on,” he told his teammates. “Follow me.”

They quickly disappeared into the forest, and Sasuke led them even further in. When he thought they were a safe distance away - and saw that Kakashi wasn’t following them - he came to a halt.

“Wha- What did you do that for?” Naruto whispered loudly.

“It’s a trick.” 

“Huh?”

“Think about it. You too, Sakura. Have you ever heard of a team with two genin?”

“Noooo… “Sakura’s voice trailed off as she started thinking through the implications.

“So it’s a trick?”

“It has to be. Besides, you all saw what a jounin can do.” Heads nodded in agreement.

“There’s no way any of us could get a bell from him. Not on our own… “

Sakura’s eyes began to gleam. “We could try one of our formations!”

“I could summon a toad!” Naruto offered.

“Naruto, enough with the toads!” Sakura glared. Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. 

“Why don’t we try that ‘Distract and Maneuver’ one?”

Naruto perked up. “Wait… which one was that? Was that the one… “

Three heads huddled together as they finalized the plan, then quickly dispered.

Back in the clearing, Kakashi slouched against a tree and scanned the forest. He would never admit it to the kids, but he had been impressed with their team dynamic the day before. Sure, some of their ideas needed work, but the fact that they had been sitting there discussing it as a team… 

A small seed of hope had been planted. Now he would see whether there was enough for it to grow.

He’d had to improvise a lot with this test. That field promotion had messed with his normal spiel, and he couldn’t really threaten to send them back to the academy.

He had also heard about what his potential students had done during Danzo’s attempted coup. Naruto had refused to abandon his teacher, Sasuke had worked  _ with _ Choza and Inoichi (and hadn’t hidden, or charged off on his own and required them to place themselves in danger saving him), and Sakura appeared to have worked well with her classmates. A little weak, perhaps. But when Anko found out that he’d be her instructor she’d made a point of hunting him down. He wasn’t sure if he’d been threatened or lectured, but she clearly had been working with the new genin. 

All in all, an interesting mix. He deliberately chose not to chase after them when they disappeared into the forest. The fact that they ran off - together - was probably a good sign.

He nonchalantly relaxed, the constant scanning of his environment the only sign that he was on high alert.

‘IT’S TIME FOR THE MATCH TO BEGIN!” a loud voice cried out.

Kakashi’s eyes widened slightly as Naruto proudly stood out in the open.  _ What was the kid thinking? And where were the others? _

“I’ll take you on! Just you, me, and my clones!” 

A literal horde of Naruto’s poured out of the forest. Well. Kakashi had heard about this, too.

He casually reached into his pouch and pulled out his favorite book. The horde of Naruto’s slid to a halt. 

“Is something wrong? I thought you were coming for me?”

“But… you… “ Naruto sputtered. “Why are you… THAT’S A BOOK!”

“Of course it’s a book,” Kakshi opened it and peered at the page. “I’ve been dying to find out how the story ends. Carry on… 

“It shouldn’t make any difference.”

A thousand Narutos stared in a stunned silence that swiftly turned to anger.

“I’m going to flatten you!”

  
“Why you!”

“You’d better take us seriously!” 

A chorus of voices rose, and the horde restarted their charge.

Again, and again, and again, a Naruto tried to attack Kakash, but their teacher evaded each with deceptive ease.

One by one, and sometimes three or four at a time, the clones were defeated and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi opened his mouth to say something. Then his eyes widened, and he quickly dodged a fireball. 

_ Did Sasuke coordinate that with Naruto, then? Or was that a coincidence? Were the clones a deliberate distraction, or are they fighting separately? _

Another fireball appeared, soon followed by a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Some of those even trailed ninja wire, creating a web on one side.

Kakashi’s eyes narrowed.  _ Were they trying to herd him somewhere? And where was Sakura? _

Another fireball went off, another wave of orange-clad Naruto’s charging in its wake.

Just as Kakashi began to move, he saw it…

Four or five senbon flew from the opposite side, aiming… not for him, but for the string tying the bells!

Dodging them would be a little tricky since he was already in the air, but he  _ was  _ a jounin.

He quickly substituted with a log, then landed on the other side of the field.

The alarm bell went off.

“Time’s up!” 

“Awwwww, we almost had them!” Naruto grumbled. Sakura came out from her spot in the woods, and the three genin faced Kakashi.

Kakashi put on his best poker face. “Looks like none of you get any lunch.”

Sasuke’s mouth turned down, Sakura looked dejected, and Naruto crossed his arms and scowled.

“Sasuke, that fireball came at a good time… but weren’t you worried about hitting Naruto?”

Sasuke shook his head. “Naruto knew it was coming, the real him stayed out of the line of fire.”

Kakashi nodded to himself. 

“If Sakura had managed to slice the strings, what was your plan then?”

“My clones were going to grab them!” 

“Who would you have given the second one to?”

“Well - I mean - we all worked together, you know? It’s not fair to only let two win!”

“Yeah! This test doesn’t make any sense.”

“Nonetheless, none of you got any bells. You all… 

Sakura hunched her shoulders as though waiting for a blow.

“PASS!”

“Huh?!?” “Wha-” 

“You were all given a field promotion because you showed you had skills, as individuals, during Danzo’s attempted coup. But being a good shinobi is about more than just knowing jutsus or how to throw a kunai.”

Kakashi looked dead serious as he continued. 

“You have to know how to work as a team.”

“But - “ Sakura hesitantly spoke, “if we were expected to function as a team, why do you only have two bells? You’re preaching teamwork, but your test is designed to make us fail!”

“Of course. This task was designed to cause dissension in your ranks. I had to change it a bit, since you were all given field promotions. Normally I threaten to send one of you back to the Academy.

“The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside your individual interests and propose to the others that you work together for the good of all.”

“Does that mean you lied when you said you wouldn’t teach anyone who failed to get a bell?”

“I lied - in that getting a bell didn’t mean I would teach you. If you failed my test, I wouldn’t have taken you on as my team.

“Understand this. A true shinobi looks underneath the underneath. In a ninja’s world, those who break the rules are trash…

But those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So at some point I realized that I had to do the bell test, but with the whole 'field promotion' thing I didn't think they could be sent back to the Academy. And Kakashi cared about teamwork way too much to just throw the test out, so I had to figure out how he'd give the test in this situation.
> 
> Though since his team is already showing more cooperation than canon, he's also more impressed with them.
> 
> I also had to make changes based on where they are here, which is a bit more serious and experienced than they were in canon, and more willing to work together. 
> 
> That changed quite a bit of the drama in the original story, since i didn't have them fail first, but hopefully it's all a plausible alternative given this particular AU.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few changes, and the beginning of the classic Wave arc.

There wasn’t much Sasuke could do to find his brother at the moment. He had heard from Naruto that Jiraiya had left again - he suspected the sannin was out collecting information from his spy network.

He did talk to Iruka-sensei about getting a copy of the report on Itachi. There wasn’t a lot to it, mostly sightings from Konoha shinobi, but it did list some of his known associates and with Iruka’s help he was at least able to identify what organization his brother belonged to. That organization - Akatsuki - seemed to have a LOT of S-class criminals. Iruka told him that he’d have access to more information once he made chunin, so for now he focused on working with his team and getting stronger.

So far, most of their missions had been little more than chores. They pulled weeds, chased a (demonic) cat, painted fence, and so on and so forth.

Still, the rumor mill was buzzing. Or so Sakura relayed from Ino. Danzo’s attempted coup had hurt the village, and many of the more powerful ninja were being sent on missions meant to show that Konoha was still strong. That meant that the lesser ranks had to step up - and perhaps the newest genin would be sent on C-ranks sooner than normal.

Kakashi-sensei seemed to think so, judging by how hard he was pushing them during training. Not that anyone on Team 7 was going to complain. Whatever training regimen Anko had given Sakura was beginning to show results. She still had less stamina than the boys did, but when she took off the red trench coat - a graduation gift from Anko, Sasuke learned - she had muscle definition that definitely hadn’t been there before.

The biggest change of all, though, was when Tsunade took over as Hokage. She had been handing out mission assignments for a while, and Sasuke had been surprised to discover she was the blonde woman who had been tending the Hokage. He was somewhat less surprised to discover that Naruto already knew her. Once he realized that the ‘ero-sennin’ he referred to was Jiraiya, it almost seemed inevitable. 

The Hokage hadn’t died, yet, but had chosen to retire and spend his last days in peace.

Not long after Tsunade took over, the rumor-mill was vindicated. Team 7 came for a mission, and after yelling at Naruto for calling her ‘baa-chan’, again (not that it ever worked), Tsunade turned serious.

“Kakashi,” she pinned their sensei with a look. “I’ve got a C-rank, and everyone else is already assigned elsewhere. Are they ready?”

His team perked up and stared at him with longing in their eyes, waiting impatiently as he stiffened slightly.

He finally nodded, and a sigh of relief swept through them. “Yes, Tsunade-sama. What’s the mission?”

Tsunade gave a resigned sigh. “It’s an escort to Wave.” 

Sasuke elbowed Naruto when he opened his mouth, and Tsunade continued. “The client is a bridge-builder, Team 7 will escort him home and guard him until he finishes building his bridge. He’s waiting outside.”

She bellowed to her aide, “Bring him in.” 

They heard a bit of stumbling, and then an old man shoved open the door. “What’s going on here?” he demanded. “They look like a bunch of wet-nosed brats.”

He lifted a bottle of sake and started guzzling it. “Epecially… the midget. He looks like an idiot. This is a joke, right? You kids aren’t really ninja, are you?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes as Naruto started looking around in confusion. “Who’d you mean? Which midget?” It was almost amusing to watch Naruto’s face change as he realized he’d been insulted. 

“I’ll kill him!” 

“Wrong.” Kakashi grabbed Naruto before he could charge. “No killing the old man you’ve been assigned to protect.”

“I am Tazuna, a bridge builder of great renown.” The old man pulled himself up with pride, then ruined the display by immediately slouching and taking another drink. “Until I am safely back in my own country, where I’ll be completing my next bridge, you’ll all be expected to protect me. Even if it costs you your lives!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's my take on Kakashi as a teacher. Canon claims he's a good one, but they don't really show it. I mean, the first we really see him teaching them is after they encountered Zabuza, where they learned tree climbing, right?
> 
> I try to be generous, though, especially since in a high context culture (I think?) they don't always make things as explicit as we do, and I like to believe there's all sorts of training going on that we don't see because practicing basic skills can be narratively rather dull. They sparred, they did katas, that sort of thing.
> 
> I also am assuming that the after-effects of Danzo's attempted coup would be similar to what happened in canon after the Sand-Sound invasion. So I figure Kakashi knows they'll probably get pulled into more dangerous missions sooner, and is acting accordingly. Their current skillset is closer to what they'd have at the end of the Chunin exams, minus the rasengan and chidori, and adding in senbons for Sakura.
> 
> Oh, and I didn't explicitly say it yet, but Sasuke did get his sharingan during the fight with Danzo, so they've been training with that a bit.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wave Arc - First Encounter

It wasn’t long before Sasuke found himself standing at the gates to the village, with a full pack and all his gear. He mostly tuned out Naruto’s excited burbling as he studied their client. Tazuna didn’t seem any more impressive at their second meeting. He was still clutching his sake like it was a life preserver. When he wasn’t taunting Naruto, that is. Well, whatever. He was their client, they had their mission, and if they did well here they would probably get more and better missions.

Kakashi captured Naruto before he could yet again attack their client. 

“Maaa,” he casually spoke, as though one hand wasn’t fully occupied with a struggling genin. “What formation would you suggest?”

The squirming ceased, and blue eyes locked on Sasuke. 

“Well,” Sakura tilted her head in consideration. “It _ is _ an escort mission. So formation E?” She looked at Sasuke for confirmation.

Sasuke gave a small nod. 

“Wait, wait! Formation E… ? Which one was that again?” Naruto scrunched his face up as he tried to remember, not noticing that Kakashi had finally released him.

“It’s the one where you send out some clones to scout, Naruto. Weren’t you paying attention?” Sakura huffed in annoyance.

“Oh, yeah! I remember!” Naruto put his hands together. 

“Eight should be enough,” Kakashi suggested.

“Okay!” Naruto began funneling chakra into his hands. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Ten identical clones appeared.

“What!?! There’s more than one?!” Tazuna stared in horrified amazement, the bottle of sake temporarily forgotten.

“All right!” “Let’s go!” “Nobody is going to get past us!”

With one last burst of noise, the Naruto pep rally dispersed, each clone taking a different sector. 

Naruto - the real one - scratched the back of his head and gave a weak chuckle. 

Once that was settled, Team 7 - and their client - headed out. 

The new genin were all on edge at first, well aware that they were on a mission and that danger could come at any time. But they saw nothing but forest, step after step, and eventually began to relax their guard. Paying attention to every little movement was exhausting, and most of the time it was just a squirrel. Or bird. Or deer. 

The forest stretched on and on, hardly anything distinguishing one section from another. Oak trees, pine trees, a puddle, more trees…

They had just passed the puddle when it happened. The genin - and Tazuna - turned to stare, shocked, as their sensei was wrapped in chains.

“One down… “ 

Kakashi disappeared in a spatter of blood.

His two attackers turned as one, racing forward. “Two do- Wha- ?!?” 

The ninjas stopped in their tracks. The one on the left slowly reached up to touch the senbon that had pierced his neck. “You… “

He collapsed before he could finish his sentence, his partner hitting the ground a second later. 

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, then swiveled to look at their teammate.

Sakura crossed her arms and scowled at them. “What?” 

Sasuke wisely kept his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop Naruto in time.

“You - They - “ Naruto struggled to form a coherent sentence. “But I wanted to fight them!”

Sakura huffed and tossed her head, her hair following in a shiny pink wave. “Then you’ll just have to be faster next time.”

“That’s right!” Kakashi added, as though he’d been standing with them the entire time. “We’ll add a few more speed drills to our training.”

Sakura jumped back and readied a senbon, as Sasuke reached for a shuriken and Naruto readied his kunai. Then their brains caught up.

“Kakashi-sensei! You’re alive!” Sakura gasped.

Kakashi’s visible eye turned up. “Good job, Sakura. I’m assuming they’re still alive?” He gave her a proud pat on the head as he gathered the enemy ninja together and started carrying them to a nearby tree.

“Of course! Anko-senpai would have been mad if I’d killed a potential source of information.” 

Kakashi nodded and finished tying up their attackers.

“Mr. Tazuna,” he said as he stood up. “Our attackers appear to be chunin-level ninjas from Kiri. Obviously, they were watching and waiting for us. Waiting for their target… “

Tazuna gulped.

“I let them attack because I wanted to find out who that was. Were they really after you? Or one of us?

“There was no word of any ninjas seeking to take your life. Your request was for protection against roving bands of thieves and brigands… that was why this mission was ranked ‘C’. That these ninja attacked you makes this mission more than that. More than a ‘B’ mission, even.

“To protect you from ordinary dangers while you complete your bridge would be easy…

“But if you expected to be targeted by ninja, then this would definitely have been classified - and priced - as a mission for elite ninja. You may have had your reasons, but it’s never a good idea to hide critical information when asking for help. This mission is far beyond the job we were assigned.”

Kakashi left Tazuna to stew as he finished checking on his team.

Finally, as Kakashi was doing one last check, a subdued Tazuna hesitantly spoke.

“Mr, uh… Mr. Ninja sir.” The old man stood, not a bottle of sake in sight. “I have something I need to say… “

Kakashi, and the rest of his team, waited expectantly.

“Uh- “ Tazuna shifted uncomfortably. “There’s something you should know… about the request for help I made to your village.”

The old man seemed to grow - if not more confident, more determined - as he continued. “As you guessed, this job is more dangerous than you and your students were led to believe. There’s a real scary man that wants to see me dead.”

“A real scary man - ?” Kakashi repeated. “Who is he?”

“You’ve probably heard of him,” Tazuna sighed and closed his eyes. “He’s a billionaire in shipping. His name is Gato.”

Kakashi’s eyes widened. “You mean Gato… of Gato Shipping and Transportation? _ THE _ Gato? They say he’s the richest man in the world?”

Tazuna grimly continued. “That’s the one. On the surface, he looks like a legitimate businessman. The truth is he’s a ruthless, murdering criminal who traffics in drugs and contraband.

“It was just one year ago that he set his sights on the Land of the Waves. He claimed he was here for business, but in no time at all he took over our entire marine transportation and shipping industry. We’re the Land of the _ Waves _, practically everything ships over the sea - and now through him! Gato now has a stranglehold on all forms of transportation, and all the wealth… 

“The only thing he has to fear is something that has been underway for some time… the completion of that bridge!”

“But… if you knew you were the target of a ruthless thug with ninja at his disposal, why didn’t you tell us that when you asked for help?” 

Tazuna hung his head. “We aren’t a very wealthy land. Even our local lords are poor… and I have no money at all. An elite B-ranked bodyguard would be a lot more than I could afford.”

“But if you all turn away from me now… Then I’m as good as dead.” 

“But oh well!” A crafty but determined look crossed Tazuna’s face. “That’s not your concern! You won’t be there to see my daughter and grandson - only ten years old - cry all day like their hearts are breaking!”

Kakashi slumped down as their client continued to lay on the guilt. “Oh! And you won’t mind if my daughter vows eternal hatred on all the ninja from Konoha as she lives her life alone! Well, it’s not _ your _ fault!”

“Well,” Kakashi shrugged. “I guess it can’t be helped. We’ll continue to protect you. At least, until you return to your country.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a bit hectic this week. So, umm... I volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters. A fantastic organization, btw, and if you can I definitely recommend doing so. They need mentors badly.
> 
> Anyways, my Little has some stuff going on and has been spending a bit more time at my house this week. But hey, it's the weekend, so I finally have time to write a bit more!


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zabuza!

The Demon Brothers - the enemy ninja that had attacked their group - had been left behind, and Team 7 had taken a boat across the water and were approaching their destination. Along the way, they had discussed the lessons learned from their encounter.

Kakashi said it had been a good reminder that even if they had Naruto’s clones scouting along the way, they shouldn’t relax too much. Scouts can miss things, as they did in this case. Team 7 had settled a bit - they walked alongside their client, scanning their surroundings as they went.

Suddenly, Naruto stiffened. “Incoming, 1 o’clock!”

“Everyone, take cover!” Kakashi yelled, knocking Naruto down.

Everyone else hit the dirt, Sakura dragging their client down with them. The next thing Sasuke knew, a tall ninja was standing on a giant sword, embedded in a tree.

“Well, well” Kakashi drawled, moving into a relaxed yet wary stance. “If it isn’t Zabuza Momochi, missing-nin from the Land of Mists. He put a hand out, halting the rest of Team 7 as they tensed for action.

“Don’t interfere. Give me room. This one is on a different level. And if I have to face him, it had better be… “ he pulled his hitai-ate up, revealing his sharingan. “Like this.. “

Sasuke moved into position next to his teammates, a couple of tomoes spinnin in each eye as he activated his own sharingan. He had been too busy dealing with the aftermath of Danzo’s attack to celebrate it at the time, but ever since he’d joined Team 7 Kakashi-sensei had been teaching him how to use it.

“Kakashi of the sharingan, I presume?” Zabuza stared him down. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you surrender the old man?”

“Assume the manji formation,” Kakashi commanded. “Protect Mr. Tazuna.” He didn’t even look behind him, confident that his genin were doing what he’d said. “All of you, stay out of this fight. That’s the kind of teamwork this situation demands.”

Kakashi and Zabuza talked a little more, sizing each other up and preparing to fight. Sasuke clenched his kunai and readied himself, but Zabuza conjured a mist and disappeared.

“Throat. Spine. Lungs, Liver” Zabuza’s voice seemed to come from the fog itself, a creepy litany of vital organs that made Sasuke grit his teeth.

“The jugular, kidney, heart.” He could be anywhere. Everywhere.

“Steady,” Kakashi murmured. “Even if he gets me, I’ll still protect you. I will… never let my comrades die!”

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Zabuza countered.

Like a tsunami, Zabuza struck, appearing in the midst of their formation, knocking them down like bowling pins.

Kakashi’s kunai appeared to hit home, slicing into Zabuza’s gut.

“Kakashi-sensei! Behind you!” Naruto yelled. The body Kakashi struck dissolved into water, another Zabuza appearing behind him.

Sasuke was just barely able to follow the action, and in the future he’d marvel at how much he had improved. But not now. Not when Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting for their lives, when each time Sasuke thought one of them had the advantage, the other dissolved. Clones, most of them were clones… so where were the real ones?

Hits were blocked, kicks were dodged, and then Zabuza threw Kakashi into the river. Their teacher stood on the water, drenched, but something seemed off…

“Ha! That was a mistake,” Zabuza brought his hands together and readied a jutsu. “Art of the water prison!”

Water encased Kakashi-sensei, surrounding him. Soon, their teacher was trapped in a bubble of water, Zabuza standing beside it, holding it in place with one hand.

“Heh, heh, heh. That prison is inescapable. You’re trapped. You running around free makes it too hard to do my job. I’ll finish you later,  _ after _ I’ve dealt with all the others.” He brought his free hand up to his mouth and called out. “Art of the water clone!”

Slowly, another Zabuza formed from the water. 

“Hehhehhehheh. Little ninja wannabes. Trying so hard to fit in, even wearing a hitai-ate band.”

The clone stood menacingly, glaring at the young gennin. “A true ninja is one who has crossed and recrossed the barrier between life and death. Clothes don’t make a shinobi. You need skills good enough to rate a list in my bingo book of enemies before you deserve to be called ninja.”

“What do we do?” Sakura urgently whispered, a handful of senbon readied to throw. 

“I’ve got an idea!” Naruto pulled himself together, determination shining through.

“Summoning jutsu!” 

“What are you doing!?!” Sakura yelled. 

Sasuke felt the ground move. Was it an earthquake? But Naruto had called a summoning jutsu! What sort of summons… ?

He quickly sent chakra to his legs, gripping the ground as it seemed to heave and… rise?

Zabuza and Kakashi rapidly grew smaller as Team 7 and Tazuna rose higher and higher into the air. Sasuke’s eyes widened as he realized that what he had thought was the ground was actually the head of a ginormous toad!

“THIS is your toad summons?!?” Sakura shrieked, grabbing their client before he could fall off.

“I told you! Toads are awesome!” Naruto cried out in glee.

When the summoning smoke cleared, they could finally see that they were standing on the head of a large, rusty red toad. A pipe was clenched in the toad’s teeth, and a massive sword in his right hand.

“What’s this? You again!?! What is it this time?” the toad’s voice rumbled like thunder.

“Hey, Chief Toad, Sir! Fight with me, please, will ya? I’m really counting on you!”

“Hmmmm,” the toad’s eyes narrowed as he took in his surroundings. “Is that Kakashi-chan?”

A tongue whipped out, passing through the water prison like paper and wrapping around Kakashi, pulling him up and onto the toad’s head.

“Kakashi… chan?” Sakura murmured.

Kakashi pulled himself to his full height, though the effect was ruined by all the dripping water. “Ga- gamabunta-san!”

“You’ve grown, Kakashi-chan! The last time I saw you, you were barely more than a tadpole. Are you responsible for this one? He hasn’t even exchanged sake cups with me yet… “

“Ah,” Kakashi wrenched water out of his shirt. 

“And what were you doing down there? Surely you can handle that small gnat?”

“Yes, Gamabunta-san. I can definitely handle this. Though… I would be much obliged if you could take my genin to a safer location. If that wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

“Hmmmm,” Gamabunta let out a giant puff of smoke. “And leave you to handle this one?” He eyed Zabuza, who was staring up at the toad as though trying to decide where to start chopping.

“I’ll take care of him,” Kakashi confirmed.

“Very well, then. I’ll take the tadpoles away.”

His tongue swept out to grab Kakashi one more time, placing him gently back on the ground.

“Now,” Gamabunta loudly rumbled. “Where am I taking you?”

“Uh- “ Tazuna looked longingly at his bottle of sake. “Um. You can take them to my place.”

“And where is that?”

“Ju- Just over there.” Tazuna pointed. “Please don’t step on my village!”

“Wait! Wait!” Naruto cried. He quickly used his Shadow Clone Jutsu to create a couple of clones. “You guys wait here. I’ll send more once we get where we’re going.”

His clones nodded agreement and quickly ran down Gamabunta.

“All right, then. Here we go!” Gamabunta gathered himself and leaped into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I laughed to myself way too much while writing this. I mean, if I'm going to give Naruto his Toad Summons this early, I might as well use it. Right?


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team 7 makes it to Tazuna's house.

Tsunami looked over her options for dinner. Her pantry was sadly empty, but that was true for everyone these days. She had rice, of course, and a few vegetables. And fish, always fish. She would love to have pork or even chicken, but that was harder and harder to get these days.

She sighed. Everything was harder these days.

She had just started measuring out the rice when the whole house shook.

What was that? An earthquake? Here?

She rushed outside to check on Inari. 

Something found him staring, wide-eyed, at a clearing in the forest. Had that been there before?

“T-toad!” Inari stammered.

Before she could try to make sense of that, motion caught her eye. There, in the middle of a clearing she could have sworn hadn’t been there before, was her father. Surrounded by children not much older than her son.

“Ah, Tsunami!” Her father weakly waved at her. “My daughter,” he told the children.

“Hello!” the blonde child waved happily. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“What in the world?” Tsunami murmured.

“Uh, these are some of the ninjas who took the mission to guard me,” Tazuna waved at the children - er, ninjas. He spoke with a mix of respect and puzzlement. “Their sensei should be joining us soon.” 

Tsunami stared as they made their way towards the house, chattering away about something - toads again? Why on earth were they discussing the merits of using toads in battle? 

Well. It was a good thing she hadn’t started dinner yet. At least there was plenty of rice. 

The children seemed fairly well behaved, the blonde - Naruto, she believed? - loudly arguing with the pink haired girl - Sakura. The boy with dark hair, Sasuke, gave her a cool nod as he passed.

“They’re really something,” her father said to her in passing, shaking his head.

Despite their strangeness, the ninjas were fairly well behaved, and they made for a lively house. Which is why she noticed when everyone grew silent.

Naruto stood and was staring off in the distance.

“Kakashi-sensei won! But… he collapsed right after some masked ninja took Zabuza away.”

  
“Collapsed?” Sakura frowned with worry. “Is he okay?”

“I think so? My clones are bringing him in. Uh,” Naruto turned to Tsunami. “Do you have a room available?”

Right, Tsunami thought. They’ll need a place to sleep. Well, she had a couple of spare rooms. She just had to pull out a few futons and sheets. And some pillows.

“Give me a second, I’ll get it ready,” she promised.

About an hour later a couple of kids - looking exactly like Naruto - carried a tall white-haired ninja in. 

Tsunami directed them to the spare room, and hid her surprise when the two clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. The young ninjas crowded around the bed.

“Think he’ll be okay?” Naruto whispered loudly to Sakura.

“I- I don’t know. It could be chakra exhaustion. Maybe? If that’s all there is, then he should be okay once he gets some rest.”

They conferred for a few more minutes before accepting that their sensei wasn’t going to awaken any time soon.

It as hours before Kakashi finally stirred. As soon as they noticed, his students crowded around the bed.

“That fight was awesome!” Naruto exclaimed. “Those water dragons! And you knew exactly what Zabuza was going to do! You’re really strong, sensei!”

Kakashi rubbed his aching head. “Maa. I see we made it.”

  
“Yeah! Gamabunta is amazing! But… what happened, sensei? My clones saw you defeat Zabuza, and then that hunter-nin came, and then you collapsed!”

“Just chakra-exhaustion,” Kakashi reassured his students. “I’ll be fine. About that hunter-nin - what did he do with Zabuza’s body?”

“He took it off somewhere?” Naruto slowly settled down. “Wasn’t that what he was supposed to do?”

“No,” Kakashi shook his head. “A hunter-nin disposes of the body where they find it.”

“The senbon!” Sakura exclaimed. 

“Huh?” Naruto gave her a confused look.

“You said the hunter-nin hit Zabuza in the neck with senbon!”

“And senbon can be used to put someone in a deathlike-state,” Kakashi added. “If the user is skilled enough.”

“He must be really skilled,” Sakura got a considering look on her face. “Anko told me it was possible, but I’m not that good yet.”

Sasuke frowned. “More importantly, does that mean Zabuza is still alive?”

Kakashi slowly nodded. “I think it does.”

“Then… “ Naruto glanced between them. “What do we do?”

“Well, even if he’s not dead, Zabuza will need about a week to recover. And… “ Kakashi slowly rose. “I will, too.”

  
“Which means we’ll just have to train harder.” Kakashi’s visible eye crinkled with amusement as he reviewed his team. “I believe  _ someone  _ needs to work on their speed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Kakashi's fight with Zabuza pretty much when the same as it did in canon, except Naruto's clones were there to catch him when he collapsed.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short little chapter, wherein Sasuke thinks strange thoughts and Zabuza starts plotting.

Worse than the poverty was the sense of hopelessness. Sasuke had never seen a village so beaten down before. He tried to ignore the dead looks in the villagers eyes as he kept an eye on the old bridge builder. 

It was his turn to guard the man, though he’d much rather be training. Still, he could almost hear Inoichi’s voice in his head, asking him to look deeper. 

This… this is what a failure in leadership looks like. 

Sasuke felt a begrudging sense of respect for the Tazuna. At least the old man was still fighting, even if this bridge seemed a strange way of doing so. He hadn’t given up.

He also found himself wondering - is this what Danzo feared? Danzo, with all his muttering about ‘weakness’? 

But… Konoha would never be like this. Could it? 

He just couldn’t picture the ninjas he knew giving up like this. Inoichi. Shikaku. Kakashi. Iruka. 

He shook away his strange musings and focused on his client. Or rather, went back to assessing potential threats as he scanned the environment. 

Kakashi thought it would take Zabuza about a week to recover, and the week was almost up. Their sensei had been drilling them hard, and Sasuke was itching for a fight.

Sure, Zabuza was probably still out of their league… but he’d barely been able to do  _ anything _ so far. Sakura had handled the Demon Brothers, and Naruto had called up that giant toad - and figuring out how to use  _ that _ effectively had involved hours and hours of discussion. They’d speculated that the toad would be more useful if Naruto went ahead and shared sake with him, but they all agreed it was better to do that back in Konoha.

Which meant Naruto’s summons could help them escape in a worst case scenario, but that’s not what they wanted… was it? Maybe they could stay ahead of Zabuza, but the bridge builder would never be able to finish the bridge if all they did was run.

Which meant, for now, they needed to finish this without the giant toad.

********************************************************************

Zabuza grimaced as his employer left their hideout, slamming the door on the way out. He couldn’t stand the little shit, but it was too early to do away with him. Or rather, getting ride of Gato would cause a commotion, which would catch the attention of Mist’s hunter-nins. 

Haku was giving him his most innocent look, as though his young follower hadn’t just broken Gato’s arm. He was sure their employer would hold a grudge, but whatever. He’d deal with that if he had to.

Right now, he needed to focus on recovery.

That, and how to take out the bridge builder. The giant toad summons had been a surprise, and could be a problem. This would take a bit of planning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not very much of a chapter, but I figured it was important to put *something* out. I haven't forgotten the story, honest!


End file.
